Former Ogun State Commissioner for Health and daughter of ex-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Iyabo Obasanjo, has explained her recent defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), citing discomfort within her former party and a transactional approach to membership.
Obasanjo, who re-entered active politics earlier this year ahead of the 2027 general elections after a 15-year absence, stated unequivocally that the APC did not recruit her. She described her decision as a personal analysis, primarily driven by her experience in the PDP where she felt sidelined and only contacted during election periods for her mobilizing capacity.
Her departure had been previously constrained by her father’s prominent role in the PDP. “I could have joined the other party then, but my dad was then still a chieftain in that other party. It would be like I was joining against him,” she explained in an interview on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ijebu-Ilese. She noted that her father has since resigned from partisan politics, tearing his party card, which removed that obstacle.
She recounted specific instances of the PDP’s approach, stating that during her tenure as a senator, the only outreach she received came from a presidential aide close to an election, seeking her support. “How transactional is that?” she asked, adding that she terminated that call. This pattern, she argued, reflected a deeper flaw in the party’s culture.
“Politics is not about using people for an end but about caring for people and carrying them along,” Obasanjo said. “If you can’t care for people in your own leadership team, how can you care for the ordinary person on the street?” She affirmed she would not return to the PDP, describing its former leadership as individuals she no longer wished to associate with due to their perceived disregard for party loyalists.
This defection of a prominent figure with a political pedigree and an academic background—she is a professor in the United States—adds a significant dynamic to Ogun State’s political landscape as preparations for the next election cycle intensify. Her move highlights ongoing realignments within Nigeria’s party system and underscores criticisms about internal party democracy and member engagement.
