Iyabo Obasanjo, daughter of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, has officially confirmed her membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the party as her “natural home.”
Speaking on Saturday in an interview with Nigerian football legend Segun Odegbami on 103.7FM Eagle7 Sports in Abeokuta, Iyabo said her return to active politics after about 15 years was driven by pressure from her supporters. She joined the APC ahead of the 2027 general elections in Ogun State.
“Like I told you, a group of people who I did not bring together, I did not form into a group, have been working for two years. About a year ago, they approached me saying, ‘Look, we think you are the best candidate. We want you back,’” she said.
Iyabo, a former Ogun State Commissioner for Health, lost her re-election bid in 2011 to Senator Gbenga Obadara of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and subsequently pursued an academic career in the United States, rising to the rank of professor.
She explained that returning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where she last contested, was not an option due to “all kinds of turmoil” within the party. Although she considered the African Democratic Congress (ADC), she noted that the party “does not have its ducks in a row yet.”
Prior to joining the APC, Iyabo said she consulted widely and emphasized that all those who encouraged her return to politics are now in the APC. “I think APC is my natural home. 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,” she said.
Iyabo, who represented Ogun Central Senatorial District from 2007 to 2011, participated in the ongoing APC e-registration exercise at Ibogun, Ward 11, in Ifo Local Government Area, formally cementing her membership of the ruling party.
