Iyabo Obasanjo Explains Choice of Joining, APC
By 𝔸bdulrazak Tomiwa
Former senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello has joined the All Progressives Congress (APC), stating that party members were the only ones who maintained contact with her during her 15-year absence from politics.
She noted that this genuine connection made the APC feel like her natural political home.
Clarifying her status, she noted she had not been a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since 2011 after losing her Senate re-election bid and moving abroad for academic pursuits.
She remarked, “I have not been an active member or even a member at all of PDP since 2011. I do not see it as leaving one party to join another. I had no party.”
She dismissed claims of joining the APC just to align with the ruling party, pointing out that she originally left the PDP while it still held federal power. “If I wanted to associate with a winner, I would have stayed in PDP then and continued. I could have lobbied for a federal appointment. I don’t see it that way,” she stated.
The move was driven by personal relationships rather than political calculation. She explained that while no one from the PDP or other parties checked on her during her years in the United States, those she stayed in touch with were all in the APC.
Reflecting on the importance of human connection in politics, she said: “You need to care for people, you need to ask about them… So it was a decision made from that personal reason that people reached out to me, they’re talking to me, not to lobby me, but just people, we care about you and we like you, we love you as a human being, how are you doing?”
Obasanjo-Bello is now seeking the Ogun State governorship under the APC for the 2027 elections. She formally joined through an e-registration exercise in Ifo Local Government Area after being urged by supporters to return to the political arena.
She explicitly ruled out a return to the PDP due to its internal crises and felt the APC was better prepared for upcoming polls. Her political background includes serving as a Commissioner for Health and representing Ogun Central in the Senate from 2007 to 2011.
During her time away, she focused on academics and rose to the rank of professor. Now back in Nigeria, she maintains that her new party affiliation is built on mutual respect and genuine human concern.
