Actor and politician, Desmond Elliot has tendered in a public apology to all his compatriots for his comments about the youths during the #ENDSARS protests in October 2020.
He said he was not referring to everybody as children but to those who were attacking the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Musashiru Obasa on his tweeter handle.
The lawmaker who begged for forgiveness said the hatred he has received on the heels of the comment was ‘too much.
Desmond Elliot said “what I can say is, I think forgiveness is divine. I mean, no one owns it all. Something can be your truth and to another person, it might not be. I don’t think going back to bring out those sensitive moments would do anything.”
“I think at the end of the day, I apologised for, and I’m still apologising to those who must have misconstrued what I said. I said I was taken by emotions but in the end, it still didn’t take away from the fact that the hatred is too much. The polity, the hatred is too much. We are all built on love. We can change things by love.
In 2020 the Lagos lawmaker was dragged on social media, particularly on Twitter after being accused of referring to youths as children while pushing for the regulation of social media.
However, in an interview on TVC’s ‘Your View’, Elliot insisted he was not referring to all youths on social media as children insisting that those he saw insulting the speaker were teenagers.
“Truly they were teenagers, when I clicked on those who were cursing at Mr Speaker. And that’s exactly what I said. But I’m sorry again. That’s what politics teaches you. You must learn. You must! You can never be prideful. I’m in politics now, eight years and I still stand on the fact that love conquers all.”
“I mean, I’ve gone out on the street and people still curse at me. But I’m not afraid, I’m not ashamed. Because they don’t understand the stress that you go through and I pick it from their point of view because someone just hoped that you could just help him or her. And at that point, you are stressed with so many things. So at the end of the day, it happened.”
