Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s daughter, Prof. Iyabo Obasanjo, has joined the ruling Allah Progressives Congress (APC), just as she has joined the 2027 Governorship race of Ogun State.
She made this known on Saturday when she featured on an interactive programme on 103.7FM Eagle7 Sports, anchored by Nigerian football legend Segun Odegbami.
The former Senator who represented Ogun Central Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011, joined the APC after her e-registration at the party’s Ibogun, Ward 11, in Ifo Local Government Area of the state.
The former Ogun State Commissioner for Health lost her re-election in 2011 to Senator Gbenga Obadara of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
She after that returned to the United States to seek more academic knowledge, rising to the rank of professor.
Iyabo said “pressure” from her supporters made her return to politics.
According to her, “a group of people who I did not bring together, I did not form them into a group, have been working, I think, for two years now. And then they started talking to me about a year ago, saying, ‘look, we think you are the best candidate. We want you back,’” she said.
She said “all kinds of turmoil” made her not to return to her former party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
Iyabo returned to active politics after about 15 years and joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general elections in Ogun State.
According to the former Senator, she had considered the African Democratic Congress (ADC), but explained that the coalition party does not have its “ducks in a row yet; they’re still working on it.”
Iyabo said “so, I think APC is my natural home. I don’t have any animosity towards any individual or any group within the APC. I feel comfortable with all the actors I know within the APC.
“I feel more comfortable, actually, than with some of the actors I know in the PDP, and some of them are now in the ADC. So I think it’s my natural home. I feel quite confident and happy to have made that decision.
“I have an absolute 100% feeling it’s my natural home,” she said.
She said she would not return to the Senate, adding that she is running for the state’s governorship seat.
“So moving ahead, I’m not going to be Commissioner. Like I said, I’m not even going back to the same party because I think that’s old and I don’t see the use of it. And I’m not going to go back to the Senate.
“And we have started that journey. We are going to see it through. And so that’s the journey I’m on. And we are very serious about it. I mean we are very dedicated to it,” she said.
