Published by Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Iyabo Obasanjo, a daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a former senator for Ogun Central and a 2027 governorship aspirant in Ogun State, has officially resigned from the All Progressives Congress, accusing the party’s leadership in the state of persistent disrespect, exclusion and political marginalisation.
The shock resignation, which came barely half a year after she joined the party, was contained in a letter dated May 31 2026 and addressed to the Ogun APC Chairman, Chief Yemi Sanusi. A copy of the letter was made available to journalists on Monday, June 8. It brings an abrupt end to a political comeback that began with fanfare in late 2025, when campaign billboards bearing her image first appeared across Abeokuta, signalling her intention to run for the state’s highest office in 2027.
In the resignation letter, the United States‑based Associate Professor of Epidemiology tore into the consensus arrangement that produced Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as “Yayi”, as the APC’s governorship candidate in Ogun State, describing the process as inconsistent with the party’s own guidelines. She said that although she had publicly and privately pledged to honour any consensus decision made by the party, she was neither consulted nor carried along before Adeola was presented as the consensus candidate.
“When that day came, even as violence was perpetrated against my supporters to stop them from entering the venue, I maintained my calmness. At the venue, with no prior meeting with me as a candidate, and given what the national party says in its guidelines on what consensus should be, a candidate was announced. No one acknowledged my presence at the meeting, given that I was the most prominent opposition to the candidate chosen and I had traversed the state mobilising and encouraging grassroots APC support,” she stated in the letter.
Despite her profound dissatisfaction with the process, Obasanjo said she accepted the outcome in the interest of party unity and immediately congratulated Senator Adeola on the night he was unveiled. She disclosed that the senator later reached out to her and asked for a meeting with her supporters, during which three requests were presented to him. She said Adeola promised to respond within one week, but more than two months later, no feedback had been received.
“The treatment I have received reflects a consistent pattern of rejection and disrespect. When disrespect is the only dish served, then one should leave the table. I am therefore leaving the APC table where I am not welcomed,” Obasanjo wrote.
Nevertheless, in an unusual departure from the tone of her resignation, the former senator took time to thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Ogun APC Chairman Chief Yemi Sanusi, and the Ogun Central Senatorial leadership led by Chief Soremi for the courtesy and support extended to her during her brief stint in the ruling party. She also said she had no immediate plan to defect to another political platform, according to sources close to her.
Obasanjo is no stranger to the rough and tumble of Ogun State politics. She served as the state’s Commissioner for Health from 2003 to 2007 under Governor Gbenga Daniel, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party at the time. She went on to represent Ogun Central Senatorial District in the Senate from 2007 to 2011. After losing her re‑election bid in 2011, she relocated to the United States and effectively withdrew from active partisan politics for over a decade. Her return was heralded by the placement of campaign billboards in strategic locations across Abeokuta in late 2025, and she formally completed her APC membership registration in Ward 11, Ibogun, Ifo Local Government Area, early this year.
The resignation is a significant political development in Ogun State, where the APC leadership is already battling accusations of heavy-handedness and lack of internal democracy. Political observers noted that Obasanjo’s exit, coming just weeks after the party settled on Senator Adeola as its flagbearer for 2027, could energise opposition forces and reshape the calculus of the gubernatorial race. Her supporters have taken to social media to express frustration, with some alleging that the party’s leadership sidelined not only Obasanjo but also other grassroots mobilisers who had worked to build APC structures across the three senatorial districts of the state.
The Ogun State APC leadership had not issued an official response to the resignation as of the time of filing this report. Calls to the state party chairman, Chief Yemi Sanusi, went unanswered. Senator Adeola’s media team also declined to comment on Obasanjo’s allegations. It remains to be seen whether the former senator will remain politically dormant or, as some political pundits speculate, re‑enter the race on another party’s platform. For now, the woman who once said she would not return to the PDP because it was in crisis has shut the door on her latest political home, walked off the stage, and left the table at which she felt unwelcome.
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