Embattled Surulere 1 constituency representative in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Desmond Elliot, has lost the All Progressives Congress primary election for the Constituency amid controversy and allegations of intimidation during the exercise.
Elliot,
who currently represents Surulere Constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of
Assembly and was seeking a fourth term in office, reportedly lost out after a
tense primary contest marked by internal party disagreements and heightened
political rivalry.
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.
Party
stakeholders had allegedly urged Desmond to step down for Barakat
Odunuga-Bakare but he declined and proceeded with his ambition.
Tension
escalated during the primary election on Wednesday as supporters of the
lawmaker alleged widespread intimidation and harassment aimed at preventing
them from participating in the voting process.
Members
of Elliot’s media team claimed there were deliberate attempts to suppress votes
in favour of the incumbent legislator, alleging that incidents at various
voting centres were being documented by journalists and party observers.
According
to the team, reports and footage of the alleged harassment would be made
public, insisting that concerns over the credibility of the exercise had
existed even before the commencement of voting.
“We
already knew that it was not going to be a free and fair primary, which is why
members of Desmond Elliot’s media team invited conventional media organisations
to monitor and document the process,” a member of the team said.
As of
the time of filing this report, the leadership of the APC in Lagos
had yet to officially respond to the allegations surrounding the conduct of the
primary election in Surulere.
However, in a video that has now gone viral, Eliot has vowed to challenge the result of the election.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment