Professor Iyabo Obasanjo has returned to the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), in Ogun State, months after publicly describing some of its leaders as “idiots.”
MJConcept TV News reports that the daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was on Wednesday officially received back into the PDP and handed the Party’s ticket to contest the Ogun Central Senatorial election in 2027.
Her return marks a dramatic political turnaround for the former senator, who only last February, during an appearance on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese Ijebu, launched a stinging attack on PDP leaders in Ogun State.
In the interview, Obasanjo accused Party power brokers of arrogance, political shortsightedness and the habit of treating influential members as disposable tools who are only remembered during elections.
“I think they’re idiots, if you can put it that way,” she had said.
“If elections are about people and you don’t reach out to the people who are prominent in your Party, how do you win elections? You can’t,” she added.
However, in a twist that underlines the fluid nature of Nigerian politics, the same PDP has now welcomed her back into its fold and presented her as its Senatorial candidate for Ogun Central.
Senator Obasanjo represented Ogun Central in the Senate between 2007 and 2011 before losing her re-election bid. She subsequently left Nigeria to pursue an academic career in the United States.
She returned to active politics in January 2026 after about 15 years away and joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), where she declared interest in the Ogun Governorship race.
But on May 31, she resigned from the APC after losing the Governorship ticket, citing disrespect, betrayal and unfair treatment by the Party’s leadership.
At a rally held at the PDP Secretariat in Abeokuta, Senator Obasanjo was received by Party leaders, members and supporters. The event was preceded by a procession through major streets of Abeokuta, with Obasanjo flanked by the PDP Governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu, her supporters and members of the Party from Ogun Central and other parts of the State.
The Ogun State PDP Chairman, Dr. Abayomi Tella, formally presented the Party’s flag to her, describing it as the authority of the Party for her Senatorial candidature.
“On behalf of our National Chairman, Alhaji Abdulrahman Mohammed, and the entire National Working Committee of the PDP, I, Abayomi Tella, PhD, the State Chairman of the PDP, and on behalf of PDP Ogun Central, present to our revered sister, Prof. Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, this flag as the authority of the Party for her candidature for the Senate in Ogun Central,” Tella said.
Taking the Party’s oath, Obasanjo pledged loyalty to the PDP, its Constitution, Manifesto and Code of Conduct.
“I commit myself to the ideals of the PDP. I shall serve the people of Ogun State and Nigeria with integrity, humility and dedication, prioritising their welfare above personal and sectional interests,” she declared.
The former Ogun State Commissioner also repeated her claim that she left the APC because of disrespect and betrayal, saying some of those behind her ordeal were people she had “helped and clothed” politically.
Obasanjo insisted that she remains the candidate to beat in Ogun Central, boasting that she remains the best Senator to have represented the District.
Her return to the PDP has, however, reopened questions over political loyalty, reconciliation and the contradictions that often define Party politics in Nigeria, especially given her recent harsh remarks against the same Party leaders now backing her Senatorial ambition.