The move by a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Desmond Elliot, to secure a 4th term has suffered a setback, Vanguard has learned.
Multiple Presidency sources disclosed that President Bola Tinubu is said to have, at different times, rebuffed separate appeals from powerful individuals sent to him.
It was further gathered that pleas for the President to override the decision of Surulere APC stakeholders, who had thrown their weight behind the immediate past Lagos Special Adviser on Housing, Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, as his replacement, part of a decision to encourage women and gender inclusion, fell on deaf ears.
Sources disclosed that at various points, Elliot reportedly dispatched a retired General, his wife, a Senator; a current serving Minister 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 told those who came that the decision by the majority of the Surulere stakeholders and that he had no intention of going against his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, whom he described as the GAC Leader in Surulere and a pillar of Surulere’s development for years.
