EntertainmentLifestylePeopleDesmond Elliott Corrects Negative Perception Of Him Among The Youth

LAGOS — Nollywood actor turned politician, Desmond Elliot in a chat with TVC’s Your View Show, has finally touched on the negative perception of him among Nigerian youths.

The lawmaker representing Surulere at the Lagos state House of Assembly became the punch bag of Nigerians on social media between 2019 and 2021 for his tacky constituency projects and displeasing comments.

In 2019, the politician was massively criticized for commissioning an N200,000 public toilet in his constituency.

In 2020, he irreparably offended Nigerians with the comments he made during the #EndSARS protests where he referred to young Nigerians as “children” while pushing for a bill to regulate the use of social media.

In 2021, he became an object of mockery on social media over the inexpensive cost of the bridge he built in his constituency in Surulere, where he had erected a signboard to give credit to himself as the person who constructed the bridge.

Reacting to the deluge of backlash he faced for building a wooden bridge aka ‘pako bridge’ during the latest interview, the politician denied building the wooden bridge for his constituents and attaching his photo to it.

According to him, he donated the sum of N800,000 after people in the community begged him to help them reconstruct a fragile bridge and after it was completed, they reached out to him and insisted on fixing his picture on the bridge to show how grateful they were.

He said: “I must say this categorically on national TV, I didn’t personally build the bridge, I didn’t put my picture up, it was done. So the community did it for good and other people took it for that.”

Not stopping there, Desmond Elliot also addressed the backlash he faced over the toilets he commissioned. The lawmaker stated that he wasn’t the one responsible for the toilets, and added that he heard of an opportunity for biofil-toilets by the Australian government and he decided to get slots for his people as well.

According to him, he has never built toilets in his life. He said: “The other one they said about the toilet, I have never built a toilet in my life, never built toilet in my life!”

Reacting to the criticism he faced during the period of the #EndSARS protest when he made comments on the regulation of social media while in the Assembly chambers, Desmond Elliott said he was among the first to champion the cause of the youth when the #EndSARS protest first started.

He also narrated how he helped to secure the freedom of 15 protesters arrested during the #EndSARS movement that rocked the nation two years ago.

He said, “From the state house of assembly, when the whole thing started, I was one of the first people to stand up and say that the government should listen to the people.

“A few days later, a lot of people were arrested at Area C police command. I was actually at plenary. By the time I came out, I saw my phone flooded with messages – ‘Where is Desmond?’ I drove all the way to Area C. I didn’t leave Area C and Panti until 2 am to free almost 15 people.

“How is it possible that, in two days, somebody just changes? It’s not possible. Come on, Nigerians. Let’s think about it for a moment. Almost everything I’ve done in my constituency has to be a youth promotion programme.”