Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu, has spoken about the time his principal was on the verge of firing him over Desmond Elliot, a lawmaker from Lagos State.
He recounted a near-loss of employment during the impeachment process involving Lagos Speaker Mudashiru Obasa.
Keep in mind that in order to preserve the honour of the Lagos State House of Assembly and the state itself, members there had previously stated that Obasa should be impeached.
In a joint statement to reporters at the Assembly Complex, the legislators stated: “It’s just a change of baton.” Since the only constant is death, change is also inevitable.
Nevertheless, the Speaker was reinstated and harmony was restored to the Assembly when President Tinubu opposed the impeachment.
Gbajabiamila claimed, “I nearly lost my job as Chief of Staff last year because of Desmond Elliot” when speaking to APC members on Thursday. During the Lagos Speaker Obasa scandal, Mr. President summoned me to his Abuja residence.
I responded, “Yes, sir,” when he asked whether I had heard that Desmond was the one we had given you. In the Lagos House of Assembly, he is among those who are a source of trouble.
The president responded by saying that, according to the information he had, Desmond was indeed one of their number, even though I informed him right away that he wasn’t.
In light of the president’s remarks, I contacted Desmond after the meeting and requested that he quit the group if he was still involved. The head of DSS contacted me three days later to inform me that an issue had arisen.
According to him, people are bringing up your name, accusing you of being involved in the impeachment process and backing Desmond.
After speaking with Desmond, who denied group membership, I informed the DSS DG of my conversation. After that, I requested that Desmond release a statement publicly denying any role in the impeachment drama; but, he has still not done so as of this writing.