PROFESSOR Iyabo Obasanjo, daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has formally declared her intention to contest the 2027 governorship election in Ogun State on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
News Point Nigeria reports that the former senator made her declaration on Saturday during an interactive programme on 103.7FM Eagle7 Sports, anchored by Nigerian football legend, Segun Odegbami.
Her announcement comes weeks after she returned to active partisan politics following a 15-year hiatus and formally joined the APC ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Sources familiar with the development confirmed that Prof. Obasanjo recently participated in the APC e-registration exercise at Ibogun, Ward 11, in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, effectively sealing her membership of the ruling party.
Prof. Obasanjo previously represented Ogun Central Senatorial District between 2007 and 2011. She also served as Ogun State Commissioner for Health and is a renowned epidemiologist. She lost her re-election bid in 2011 to Senator Gbenga Obadara of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Following her defeat, she relocated to the United States, where she focused on her academic career, eventually rising to the rank of professor.
Speaking during the radio interview, the former senator said her decision to return to politics was driven by sustained pressure from supporters across the state.
“Like I told you, 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,” she said.
“They started talking to me about a year ago, saying, ‘Look, we think you are the best candidate. We want you back.’”
Explaining her decision to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where she last contested elections, Prof. Obasanjo cited internal crises and instability within the opposition party.
She disclosed that while the African Democratic Congress (ADC) was also considered, the coalition party was not yet fully organised.
“The ADC does not have its ducks in a row yet; they’re still working on it,” she noted.
According to her, most of the individuals and groups who encouraged her return to politics are now members of the APC, making her decision easier.
She said she held extensive consultations before finally settling for the ruling party, describing the APC as her “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,” she said.
“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. I have an absolute 100 per cent feeling it’s my natural home.”
On her political ambition, Prof. Obasanjo ruled out a return to the National Assembly or accepting any appointive position, stating clearly that her focus is the governorship of Ogun State.
“I’m not going to be Commissioner, and I’m not going back to the Senate,” she said.
“Like the Americans would say, there’s no need. The only thing I’ll come back to do is the governorship.”
She added that her political movement has already commenced and that she and her supporters are fully committed to seeing the project through.
“We have started that journey. We are going to see it through. We are very serious about it, and we are very dedicated to it,” she said.