The Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has made a startling revelation regarding his tenure, disclosing how he nearly lost his position last year following allegations of his involvement in the leadership crisis within the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Speaking of the events surrounding the unsuccessful impeachment move against the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, Gbajabiamila detailed a tense encounter with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to the Chief of Staff, the President summoned him to his private study in Abuja to question his relationship with Hon. Desmond Elliott, the lawmaker representing Surulere Constituency I.
“President Tinubu asked me if Desmond Elliott was my boy,” Gbajabiamila recounted. “I replied that he is. The President then informed me he had received intelligence that Desmond was among those fueling the crisis in the Lagos State House of Assembly.”
Despite Gbajabiamila’s initial defense of the lawmaker, the President maintained that high-level intelligence reports suggested otherwise.
The situation escalated three days later when the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) contacted the Chief of Staff with a grave warning. The DSS chief reportedly informed Gbajabiamila that his name was being linked to the impeachment plot as a primary sponsor, acting through Hon. Elliott.
“The DG of the DSS called me and said there was a problem. He told me my name was being mentioned as the one behind the impeachment saga and that I was supporting Desmond,” Gbajabiamila stated.
In a bid to clear their names and de-escalate the political tension, Gbajabiamila directed Hon. Elliott to issue a public statement distance himself from the plot. However, that request was reportedly ignored.
“I called Desmond to make a public statement to deny his involvement in the impeachment saga, but till today, he hasn’t done it,” he added.
Following the lawmaker’s refusal to publicly clarify his stance and the subsequent threat to his own professional standing with the President, Gbajabiamila has officially withdrawn his support for Desmond Elliott’s bid for a fourth term in the Lagos State House of Assembly.
This development marks a significant shift in the political landscape of Surulere, as the long-standing alliance between the two influential figures appears to have reached a definitive end.
