Nollywood actor and politician, Desmond Elliot, has bemoaned the level of hatred he receives from people over the comment he made back in 2020 during the Endsars massacre that led to the killing of unarmed Nigerians protesting for better governance in Nigeria. An act that was globally frowned at by the whole world at large.
Recall that in 2020 during the #ENDSARS protest, Elliot received a gush of backlash after a video of him referring to Nigerian youths as children (besides other comments), during a plenary session at the Lagos state House of Assembly, went viral. He also was a party to the decision reached by the Nigerian Government to ban twitter, the online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users send and respond publicly or privately texts, images and videos known as "tweets". The twitter ban lasted for over a year.
The comment seemed to have enraged most Nigerian youths who have not hidden their resentment towards him since the incident.
Speaking on TVC’s Your View, ‘Let’s Talk’, the lawmaker apologised for the comment, explaining he made the comment out of emotions.
According to Elliot, the hatred he has received on the heels of the comment was ‘too much’, calling on Nigerians to spread love instead.
“I’m still apologising to those who must have misconstrued what I said. I said I was taken by emotions,” he said.
“But, in the end, it still didn’t take away from the facts; the hatred is too much, the polity, the hatred is too much.”
The actor-cum-politician also revealed that the hatred has extended to the streets as he gets verbal attacks whenever he steps out.
“I’m in politics now for eight years and I still stand on the fact that love conquers all. I mean I’ve gone out in the streets and people still curse me,” he said.
“But I’m not afraid, I’m not ashamed because they don’t understand the stress that you go through.”
Nollywood actor turned lawmaker, Desmond Elliot, has cleared the air on the construction of a wooden bridge, aka “pako bridge,” for his constituents.
Recall that the lawmaker representing Surulere I Constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly came under heavy fire in 2020 after photos of the bridge surfaced online
He was heavily criticized for building a wooden bridge and public toilets for his constituents.
Speaking in a recent interview on TVC’s popular breakfast show, Your View, Desmond Elliot revealed the idea behind the wooden bridge project.
According to him, he had gone to the area to console a mother who had lost her 13-year-old daughter in a canal.
He said while on their way to Shitta to retrieve the girl’s body, the bridge that crossed the canal was very fragile, and the residents begged him to help them rebuild it.
He disclosed that he donated N800,000 to the community for the bridge, and that they eventually reached out to him and insisted on putting his picture on the bridge to show their gratitude.
Speaking further, Desmond noted that the bridge is no longer in good condition and that he has brought it to the attention of the state government to be repaired.
He went on twitter and also apologized and Nigrerians gave him a peace of their mind. Some of the tweets are below
