Tinubu Allegedly Blocks Desmond Elliot’s 4th Term Bid as Party Stakeholders Back New Female Candidate

(Desmond Elliot.photo Credit: Facebook)
Vanguard has gathered that Desmond Elliot, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has experienced a setback in his attempt to win a fourth term.

President Bola Tinubu is alleged to have rejected separate petitions from influential people at various points in time, according to many Presidency sources.

It was also learned that appeals to the President to overturn the decision made by Surulere APC stakeholders, who had supported Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, the immediate former Lagos Special Adviser on Housing, as his replacement in an effort to promote gender inclusion and women, were ignored.

According to sources, Elliot allegedly killed a retired general, his spouse, a senator, a minister in office, and an ally of the President, at different times to “make his case at the Villa.”

Each of them reportedly failed to get Tinubu’s nod for Elliot’s 4th term bid as the President insisted on respect for internal democracy.

In each of the separate engagements, it was gathered that “Tinubu’s position did not waver.”

He informed those in attendance that the decision was made by the majority of Surulere stakeholders and that he had no intention of opposing his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, whom he referred to as the GAC Leader in Surulere and a longstanding pillar of Surulere's growth.

According to reports, the President went on to say that the direct primary election will "indicate who commands popular control of Surulere APC politics, not external influence."

He went on to tell one of the guests that he had never seen Desmond Elliot until 12 years prior, when Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president, begged him to convince Gbajabiamila to allow the actor to run for the Lagos Assembly in 2015.

Additionally, he revealed that Gbajabiamila was the one who later pleaded with the Surulere people to accept Elliot during his three terms in office.

During one of the sessions, the President was recorded as remarking, "If the people who carried Desmond for twelve years can no longer defend him, that says everything about the boy's character and performance."

According to additional information, Tinubu also brought up the Fubara-Wike conflict, cautioning that "a politician who ignores the people who built him and defies public sentiment puts himself in dangerous territory."

It was reported that the president declared he would never support "undemocratic tendencies in his state."

He maintained the same stance during every meeting. The field is open if Elliot thinks he can defeat Odunuga-Bakare and Gbajabiamila's structure in the primaries.

The President refused to force Surulere to accept Elliot's ambition for a fourth term.

Elliot continues to rely on a close ally of the president and a female senator "to approach President Tinubu once more while the President is currently in France, hoping for a last-minute reversal of the overwhelming endorsements of Barakat Odunuga-Bakare ahead of the Surulere 1 State Assembly primary slated for May 20, 2026," according to sources, despite the president's repeated rejections at separate sittings.

Speaking about the development, the Surulere Accountability Front, or SAF, emphasized that the majority of Surulere's community stakeholders reject Elliot's bid for a fourth term.

Elliot's twelve years in government, according to SAF Chairman Olanrewaju Badmus, were marked by "poor representation, political instability, and character deficits."

"Most of the Surulere youths are tired of him and don't see him as a role model," stated Badmus. Only God grants authority to whoever He chooses, and power is ephemeral. It is not by chance that Surulere 1's representation in the Lagos House of Assembly is being called for to be changed. It is the decision of a constituency that has endured enough patience.