Desmond Elliot, the lawmaker representing Surulere Constituency I in the Lagos state house of assembly, has lost his bid to secure the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for a return to the legislature.
In the primary election held in the constituency on Wednesday, Elliot lost to Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, the aspirant backed by Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff (CoS) to President Bola Tinubu, in the assembly race.
Odunuga-Bakare secured 11,385 votes to defeat Elliot, who polled 270 votes across the wards in the constituency.
According to the breakdown of the results from various wards as declared in a viral video, Odunuga-Bakare polled 1,956 votes, while Elliot secured 10 votes at Owolewa Open Field, off Randle Avenue.
Odunuga-Bakare also recorded a landslide victory in the Iponri/Eric Moore ward, polling 1,805 votes, while Elliot got six votes.
The same pattern played out at Akinhanmi/Cole ward, where she polled 2,191 votes while Elliot secured 82 votes.
At Gbaja Stadium ward, the female aspirant recorded 523 votes, while Elliot failed to secure any vote.
She also floored the former Nollywood actor in Yaba/Ojuelegba ward with 980 votes against Elliot’s three votes.
Elliot only had a slight lead at Shitta/Ogunlana ward, where he polled 270 votes, while Odunuga-Bakare secured 169 votes.
The incumbent lawmaker is seeking his fourth term in the state assembly, having represented the constituency for three terms in the past.
Elliot, however, fell out of favour with Gbajabiamila, his estranged godfather, over the role he played in the 2025 impeachment of Mudashiru Obasa, speaker of the Lagos state house of assembly.
Addressing stakeholders in Surulere recently, Gbajabiamila said he nearly lost his job in the presidency due to Elliot’s “role” in Obasa’s impeachment saga.
Gbajabiamila, who served as speaker of the house of representatives from 2019 to 2023, also said he had asked Elliot to publicly dissociate himself from the impeachment plot — a directive he said the lawmaker never obeyed.
Elliot, however, said he thought the plot to impeach Obasa had the backing of President Tinubu, saying he was taken aback by Gbajabiamila’s comments, whom he referred to as “my daddy” during a recent interview on TVC.
