Nollywood actor turned politician, Desmond Elliot has defended his ‘makeshift cleansing’ project which drew an outrage on social media after its photos went viral.
Recall that the lawmaker who represents Surulere constituency in the Lagos State Assembly, had disclosed that the structures were sited at “Olodeokuta, Ojuelegba, Love Garden, Hugan Bassey, Masha bus stop, Shirts bus stop, Adelabu, Iponri, Bode Thomas and Ishaga Road”.
Desmond Elliot has however defended the project and according to him, he did what he felt was right. He added that he was only test-running the project to see if it was going to work.
He said;
“Normally. I will just let things pass but this has to do with life and death owing to the COVID-19 that we know about. I think responding will be very apt and quite germane.
“I just got couple of people who sent messages to me showing me the backlash and stuff going on concerning the buckets (he shared).
“I am not averse to criticisms. As a matter of fact , I love criticisms. But you see, I love criticisms when they are constructive.
“There was not even one (comment) in the whole social media space that has said, ‘Look at how you can do this.’ There is a lot of negativity out there and I wonder why.”
On customising the handwashing materials, Desmond Elliot said;
“If you read my post, and I just remembered you guys on social media don’t read, I said makeshift. It was something I was gonna test-run and see if it was gonna work. To the world, it was not working, to the people, it was.
“What is it about my face being there? If I wanted to score points, I would have put my face in the bags of garri and in every bag of rice.
“I am doing what I feel is right, I am doing it because I am here and you are there asking. What makes it bad that my face is there? Is it your face I would put?”
