Desmond Elliot, the popular Nollywood actor-turned-politician and Lagos lawmaker, has opened up about a terrifying encounter during the 2020 EndSARS protests—a moment he describes as one of the scariest of his life.
In a revealing interview on Nollywood On Radio, Elliot recounted being trapped in his Surulere constituency office after the government-imposed curfew took effect.
Unable to return to his home in Lekki, he decided to spend the night at the office, unaware of the imminent danger he was about to face.
“When there was curfew during the EndSARS period, a lot of bad boys came into Surulere, and because of the curfew, I could not go home,” he explained. “I was stuck in Lekki, so I had to go back to my office in Surulere.”
As the night wore on, Elliot tried to unwind, watching TV in his office, assuming it would be a quiet evening. But that calm was shattered by the frantic voice of his landlady’s daughter outside, desperately trying to protect him.
“Next thing, I heard my landlady’s daughter screaming, saying I don’t stay there,” he recalled. Her voice was a desperate attempt to divert the attention of the approaching mob, who were unaware that the lawmaker was inside.
But her efforts only heightened Elliot’s anxiety, making him realize that something was terribly wrong.
Elliot’s worst fears materialized moments later when chaos erupted. “When I knew there was a problem was when a bottle with fuel and fire was thrown into my office, and it caught fire,” he described, his voice tinged with lingering shock.
The crude incendiary device—a Molotov cocktail—smashed through, unleashing flames that rapidly engulfed the space.
“I have never been so scared in my life,” he admitted. In a desperate attempt to save himself, he immediately reached out to his chief of staff for help. For the actor-turned-lawmaker, the incident was a stark reminder of how quickly life can turn from calm to chaos.
The EndSARS protests of 2020 were a nationwide movement against police brutality in Nigeria, but they were also a period of intense tension and unrest.
Elliot was no stranger to the anger of the protesters, having drawn widespread criticism for his public comments on youth behavior and social media during the crisis.
His remarks quickly went viral, making him a target of ridicule and mockery on Twitter, where users dubbed him “Nigeria Twitter’s number one scapegoat.”
For a time, his name became synonymous with misjudged political rhetoric, and he was constantly trolled online. But this newly revealed experience paints a different picture—one of fear and vulnerability behind the scenes.
Elliot’s account offers a rare glimpse into the personal dangers that some public figures faced during the protests. While the public saw him as a controversial politician, behind closed doors, he was a man fearing for his life as flames threatened to consume him.
“I had to call the chief of staff for help. I have never been so scared in my life; it was horrible,” he confessed, his voice filled with a mix of regret and relief.
His story is a reminder that even those perceived as antagonists by the public can become victims in moments of crisis.
However, the timing of Elliot’s revelation—years after the protests—has sparked mixed reactions. For some, it is a moment of vulnerability, a chance to see the man behind the public image who survived a life-threatening ordeal.
For others, it is viewed with skepticism, with critics questioning if this is an attempt at image repair after his infamous comments.
But regardless of the motives, his story captures the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the EndSARS period, a time when no one, not even public figures, was immune to the violence and unrest sweeping across the country.
