Desmond Elliot Has Gone Back to Say “Daddy, I’m Sorry”, Because Politics Is Not Nollywood

Desmond Elliot has apparently discovered something every Nigerian child already knows:

Sometimes, “I’m right” is not the same thing as “I will survive this family meeting.”

The Surulere lawmaker has publicly apologised to Femi Gbajabiamila after months of political tension surrounding the APC primary for Surulere Constituency I. And this was not the normal Nigerian apology where you send “Sir, I hope you are good” on WhatsApp and disappear.

No.

Desmond went on his knees.

In a video making the rounds, the former Nollywood actor pleaded with Gbajabiamila for forgiveness, saying he had no excuse and was deeply sorry. He also appealed for reconciliation and a return to the APC political family.

And honestly, Nigerian politics has now become so cinematic that we should stop calling these things political meetings and simply start giving them episode numbers.

Because this particular season has had everything.

There was the APC primary. There was tension. There were allegations of intimidation. Desmond withdrew from the contest, rejected the process and promised to appeal.

Then Barakat Odunuga-Bakare emerged with 11,385 votes.

Desmond got 270.

At that point, even the calculator probably whispered, “My brother, maybe let us rethink this strategy.”

The interesting part is that this relationship has history. Gbajabiamila has been described by Elliot as his political mentor and “egbon,” and the two have had previous disagreements over Lagos politics, including the Assembly crisis.

So Desmond has now apparently decided that whatever happened, Surulere is bigger than the quarrel.

Which is sensible.

Because Nigerian politics is one of the few places where today's political enemy can become tomorrow's “My leader, my father, my brother, my mentor” with just one serious meeting and a strategically timed apology.

Some people are calling it humility.

Some are calling it politics.

Some are simply watching the video and saying, “Ah. Politics will humble everybody.”

And perhaps that is the real lesson here.

In Nollywood, Desmond used to kneel when the script demanded it.

In politics, apparently, sometimes the script writes itself.

Now everybody is waiting for the next episode.

Because in Nigerian politics, reconciliation is rarely the end of the story.