Nollywood actor and Lagos lawmaker Desmond Elliot has gone on his knees before Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, begging for forgiveness after a bitter fallout over the All Progressives Congress primary in Surulere.
A video shared online shows Elliot kneeling and prostrating during a meeting with Gbajabiamila and other party chieftains. He said he had no defence left.
“I’m sorry. I have no excuse; I have nothing other than to say I’m deeply sorry. I’m deeply sorry, sir. And in our culture, we prostrate. Don’t be angry, Daddy.”
Gbajabiamila asked him to get up after the plea. Elliot still pressed the point that the man in front of him was more than a party boss.
“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.”
He added:
“To err is human, to forgive is divine. So I’m sorry, my daddy, if I’ve offended you in any way.”
The apology is not his first. Elliot had already gone on TVC’s Your View to say any offence against his political mentor was unintentional and that he still wanted party unity. The new clip is louder because the body language is public. He knelt. He stretched out on the floor. He called Gbajabiamila “Daddy” in a room full of party men.
The wound sits in the May APC primary for Surulere Constituency I, the seat Elliot currently holds in the Lagos State House of Assembly. He entered the race, later pulled out, and alleged that his supporters faced intimidation and political pressure. He rejected the result and said he would use the party’s internal appeal process. Barakat Odunuga-Bakare won the ticket with 11,385 votes. Elliot polled 270. Reports linked her emergence to Gbajabiamila’s backing in a constituency the former Speaker has long dominated.
The rift ran deeper than one primary. Gbajabiamila had earlier said he faced heat at the Presidency after intelligence reports allegedly tied Elliot to moves around the Lagos Assembly speakership crisis. He said President Tinubu confronted him over those reports, a claim he denied at the time. Elliot has denied involvement in any plot against the party leadership. The Assembly crisis was later settled after senior APC figures stepped in.
Online, the kneeling clip split the room. Some saw a man swallowing pride to save a political career. Others saw a Nollywood star learning how Lagos power works the hard way.