Lagos State lawmaker Desmond Elliott has raised alarm over alleged intimidation, political victimisation, withdrawal of his security personnel, and planned violence ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Assembly primaries for Surulere Constituency I scheduled for Tuesday, May 20, 2026, even as the Director-General of his own campaign organisation publicly abandoned him and declared support for a rival aspirant.
In a viral video circulated on Sunday, the actor-turned-politician accused unnamed party leaders and local government officials of coercing party members to support a preferred aspirant, firing local government officials who backed him, and mobilising outsiders to disrupt the primary exercise painting a picture of a political environment where his fourth-term bid is under coordinated assault from powerful forces within his own party.
Elliott described the political atmosphere within the Surulere chapter of the APC as deeply hostile, alleging a sustained campaign of intimidation against his supporters.
“Intimidation, coercion, twisting and forcing people to follow their own candidate is what is existing today in Surulere,” Elliott said. “Telling them that they will not be beneficiaries of some empowerment that is coming some other time. Please, this is not done and should not be done.”
The lawmaker alleged that the Surulere local government leadership had openly taken sides long before the primaries, backing another aspirant and using institutional power to advance that candidate’s interests at his expense.
“It is bad enough that the LGA and the local government already took a side months ago. The local government already took a side to support a particular aspirant,” he stated.
Elliott made two specific and alarming allegations about the consequences being imposed on those who support him.
First, he claimed that several local government officials had been removed from their positions because of their political alignment with him. “We’ve been intimidated so much so that a lot of people from the local government have been fired because they follow me,” Elliott alleged.
Second, he disclosed that his security personnel had been withdrawn under unclear circumstances just a day before the video was circulated, leaving him personally vulnerable.
“My security personnel were taken away from me yesterday for reasons best known to them. Now I am left alone to myself. What have I done?” the visibly distressed lawmaker queried.
The withdrawal of a sitting lawmaker’s security aides on the eve of a contested primary election is a particularly serious allegation, as it suggests either a deliberate attempt to expose him to physical danger or a signal from security agencies or those who control them that he no longer enjoys official protection.
Elliott further raised concerns over possible violence during the primaries, alleging that plans were underway to mobilise outsiders to disrupt the exercise.
“They are coming out to fight us. They want to bring people from outside and from within to cause mayhem and trouble,” he alleged, appealing for intervention from party leaders to ensure peaceful, transparent, and credible conduct of the primaries.
Despite the gravity of his claims, the lawmaker maintained that he would accept the outcome of the primaries if the process was free and fair. “By the grace of God, if I, Desmond Olusola Elliott, win, Alhamdulillah. If I lose, I will throw my support behind the winner. But please let it be under a free and fair election,” Elliott added.
He urged his supporters not to be intimidated, assuring them that adequate security would be provided during the exercise, and called on party chieftains to investigate the allegations.
In a development that further underscored the political isolation facing Elliott, the Director-General of the Desmond Elliott Campaign Organisation, Bless Koye, publicly announced his withdrawal of support for the lawmaker’s fourth-term bid.
Koye declared his support for Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, an APC aspirant for Surulere Constituency I in the Lagos State House of Assembly. “I’ll decamp from Desmond group to Barakat group,” Koye reportedly said while announcing his decision.
The defection of the head of his own campaign organisation to a rival aspirant is a particularly damaging blow for Elliott, as it suggests that even those closest to his political machinery have concluded that his candidacy may no longer be viable or that the pressure from the opposing camp has become too intense to resist.
Barakat Odunuga-Bakare is widely believed to be the female aspirant who enjoys the backing of figures linked to the political camp of Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila though neither Gbajabiamila nor his associates have publicly confirmed this.