Lagos State lawmaker Desmond Elliot has clarified his involvement in the attempted impeachment of Speaker Mudashiru Obasa in January 2025, stating that he signed the document based on a misunderstanding of the situation.
Elliot's account of the events
Speaking on Channels Television's Sunrise Daily, Elliot, who represents Surulere Constituency I, said he was outside the country when the impeachment move gained momentum. He explained that he only became aware of the development after it had already started.
“I would like to state categorically that I wasn’t in the country. My wife and I travelled during the period of January 13th of 2025. It came to me as a shock because I was in South Africa then… I was also as confused as everybody was,” Elliot said.
Reason for signing the document
According to him, he signed the impeachment document after noticing that many lawmakers had already appended their signatures, with the impression that the process had backing from higher authorities.
“And then I saw that almost everybody had signed. And pretty much, we thought it was from the presidency. In all fairness, we thought it was from the presidency,” he explained.
Presidential intervention
Elliot added that lawmakers later discovered that the assumption was incorrect after President Bola Tinubu intervened and clarified that the process was not authorised.
“But eventually, Mr President called us and made us understand that it was not from him and asked us to return the speaker. And we did,” he said.
