Desmond Elliot Bows in Public Apology to Femi Gbajabiamila, Calls Him “My Daddy”
It is not every day a sitting lawmaker goes on national television to bow — not literally, but politically — before his mentor. Yet that is precisely what happened on Friday when Lagos State House of Assembly member, Desmond Elliot, swallowed his pride and offered a public apology to the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The apology, delivered during a popular morning television programme, has since set tongues wagging across political circles in Lagos. And beyond the drama of it all, it raises a deeper question: what exactly happened between these two men, and how bad did things get before it reached this point?
The Apology That Stopped Lagos Politicians in Their Tracks
Akahi News gathered that Elliot made the public appeal while speaking on TVC’s Your View programme, a platform better known for lifestyle conversations than political confessions. His appearance there, under those circumstances, was already telling.
He did not mince words. He did not hide behind vague diplomatic language. He looked into the camera and said what many politicians spend entire careers refusing to say — that he was sorry.
“I’m not saying, oh, yes, media will come out, oh yes, Desmond begs again. Yes, because he’s my egbon. And I grew up learning everything I knew in politics through him,” Elliot said.
That single statement carries enormous weight in the Nigerian political context. To call someone your egbon — your elder, your guide — is to acknowledge not just seniority, but a debt of formation. It means this man shaped you. And when such a man is displeased, the wound cuts differently.
Elliot went further, drawing on a phrase as old as wisdom itself. “To err is human, to forgive is divine. So I’m sorry, my daddy, if I’ve offended you in any way,” he added.
My daddy. Two words. And yet, in the political theatre of Lagos, those two words speak volumes about the hierarchy, loyalty structures, and unwritten codes that govern power in Nigeria’s most commercially dominant state.
The Background: A Crisis That Nearly Cost Gbajabiamila His Position
To understand why this apology matters, one must first understand the turbulence that preceded it.
Akahi News learnt that the friction between Elliot and Gbajabiamila is rooted in the crisis that rocked the Lagos State House of Assembly — a leadership battle that threatened the speakership of Mudashiru Obasa and sent shockwaves all the way to Aso Rock.
Gbajabiamila, in a revelation that startled many, had disclosed that President Bola Tinubu personally confronted him over intelligence reports suggesting that Elliot was involved in moves to impeach Speaker Obasa. It was alleged that these reports landed on the President’s desk and created an uncomfortable situation for the Chief of Staff — a man whose closeness to Tinubu is well documented and whose position is one of the most strategically sensitive in the current administration.
Think about that for a moment. Here is a man who has served in Nigeria’s National Assembly, who stood with Tinubu through some of the most turbulent chapters of his political journey, now being questioned by the very President he serves — because of actions allegedly linked to someone he mentored.
That is not a small matter. That is the kind of thing that ends political careers. Or, at the very least, permanently alters the trust between two powerful individuals.
Gbajabiamila denied the allegations at the time. But denial, in Nigerian politics, rarely fully extinguishes the fire. The smoke was already in the air.
Desmond Elliot: The Actor Who Became a Politician
For many Nigerians, Desmond Elliot is first an actor — one of Nollywood’s beloved faces, a man who brought characters to life on screen before deciding to enter the more complex and unscripted drama of politics.
He has served as the representative for Surulere Constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, and by all accounts, has built a political career that is closely tied to the APC structure in Lagos — a structure that Gbajabiamila has been central to for many years.
Akahi News had earlier reported on the tensions surrounding the Lagos Assembly crisis and the various actors — both prominent and behind the scenes — whose moves contributed to the instability. Elliot’s name surfaced during that period in ways that, it is now clear, created personal and professional complications for those around him.
He has maintained that any offence caused was unintentional, that emotions and misunderstandings played a role. “Emotions and misunderstandings may have contributed to our differences,” he acknowledged during the television appearance.
That is a careful statement. Not quite an admission of guilt. But not a denial either. It is the language of a politician who knows that what he says next will either open a door or permanently shut one.
“Mama, I’m Sorry” — The Matriarch of Surulere
Beyond Gbajabiamila, Elliot also extended his olive branch to someone described only as the “matriarch of Surulere.”
“To the matriarch of Surulere, mama, I’m sorry if I’ve offended you,” he said.
He did not name her. And perhaps he did not need to. In the tightly-knit political community of Surulere, those who needed to know would know. The message was not really for television audiences. It was for a specific ear.
This kind of layered public communication is distinctly Nigerian. Politicians here often speak on two frequencies simultaneously — one for the cameras, one for those who understand the deeper codes. Elliot, with his background in performance, navigated it with a certain fluency.
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Party Unity Above Personal Grievances
Despite the public nature of the apology, Elliot was careful not to come across as a man who has been broken or diminished. He still carries himself as a representative with a mandate to fulfil and a constituency to serve.
“But I will keep keeping the party strong. And to all Surulerians, my scorecard is there. You know the things I’ve done to make Surulere a better place,” he said firmly.
It is a message to his people as much as it is to his critics. Whatever storms have gathered in the skies above his political career, he is saying that the work continues. That the foundation he has laid in Surulere is not so easily shaken.
And perhaps that is the most interesting dimension of all this. Desmond Elliot is not grovelling. He is apologising — there is a difference. A grovelling man abandons his position. An apologising man acknowledges his error while holding his ground.
Whether Gbajabiamila will accept the apology publicly remains to be seen. Whether Tinubu’s inner circle reads it as sufficient reconciliation is another matter entirely. Nigerian politics is rarely resolved by a single television appearance, no matter how heartfelt.
What This Tells Us About Lagos Politics
Lagos is not just a state. It is a political organism with its own immune system, its own internal logic, its own way of punishing and rewarding loyalty.
The APC structure in Lagos is built on relationships — mentors and mentees, godfathers and political sons. These relationships are what bind the machine together. When they fray, the consequences are rarely contained. They ripple outward, touching speakerships, presidencies, and constituency offices alike.
Elliot’s situation is a reminder of how unforgiving that ecosystem can be. To be named — even by implication — in a matter that causes your mentor embarrassment before the President of the Federal Republic is not something easily walked back. It requires humility. Public humility. The kind that comes with a certain cost.
Is this enough? Will this apology restore what may have been strained? One cannot say with certainty. But the fact that it was made — publicly, on camera, with the full weight of “my daddy” — suggests that Elliot understands what is at stake.
A Reflection on Mentorship, Power, and the Price of Politics
There is something philosophically significant about a grown man — a lawmaker, a public figure — standing before the nation and saying: I was wrong. I may have hurt someone I love in this game. And I am saying so, openly.
Nigerian politics does not always reward such moments. It often rewards the ruthless, the calculated, the unyielding. And yet, there are times when the boldest political move is the one that looks most like weakness from the outside.
When will Nigeria have more of this? More leaders willing to acknowledge error before it festers into irreparable conflict? When will political mentorship in this country transcend power transactions and become something genuinely formative — relationships where a man can disagree with his egbon without it nearly destroying both of their careers?
These are not rhetorical questions without answers. They are questions that ordinary Nigerians — those far removed from the corridors of Alausa or Aso Rock — ask every day. Because the health of these political relationships ultimately shapes the policies, appointments, and decisions that determine whether their children eat, whether their streets are fixed, whether their voices are heard.
It is not a child’s play, this business of power. And Desmond Elliot, one suspects, now knows that better than ever.
What Happens Next
Akahi News will continue to monitor developments in the Lagos political space as this story evolves. Whether Gbajabiamila responds publicly, whether the reconciliation holds, and whether the larger Lagos Assembly tensions have been fully resolved — all of these remain open questions.
What is clear is that Elliot has made his move. He has placed his apology on the table. Now, the response — or the silence — will tell its own story.
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Reported by Joseph Iyaji for Akahi News — your trusted source for news across Nigeria and beyond.
