Former Senator Iyabo Obasanjo was on Wednesday formally received into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State following her recent defection from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
She was also given the Party’s senatorial ticket for Ogun Central ahead of the 2027 general election.
Senator Obasanjo, daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, represented Ogun Central in the Senate between 2007 and 2011.
She lost her re-election bid in 2011 and left the country to pursue a career in academia in the United States of America.
In January this year, Senator Obasanjo returned to active politics after 15 years and joined the ruling APC, where she declared her ambition to run for governor.
On May 31, she resigned her APC membership after losing the governorship ticket and rejoined her former party, the PDP.
Senator Obasanjo was officially received into the PDP fold at a rally held at the party secretariat in Abeokuta.
The reception was preceded by a procession through major streets in Abeokuta by Senator Obasanjo, flanked by the party’s governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu, her supporters, and PDP members from Ogun Central and other parts of the state.
The State Chairman of the PDP, Dr Abayomi Tella, presented the PDP flag to Senator Obasanjo, welcoming her back to the party and announcing her as the PDP candidate for Ogun Central in the next election.
“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, Senator Obasanjo pledged her loyalty and allegiance to the PDP, its constitution, manifesto, and code of conduct.
The former commissioner reiterated that she left the ruling party because of disrespect, betrayal, and unfair treatment by the APC leadership.
Send said the acts of disrespect and betrayal were fuelled by those she had “helped and clothed” politically.
She declared that she remains the candidate to beat in the next election, saying she remains the best senator to have represented Ogun Central.
(Ripples)