From APC Exit to PDP Comeback: Iyabo Obasanjo Mobilises 74 Wards in Ogun Central

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Ogun Central in the 2027 senatorial election, met with all 74 ward chairmen across the district on Saturday, presenting vehicles to party leadership in three local government areas in what her campaign described as a move to strengthen grassroots mobilisation ahead of the polls.

The meeting focused on party structure, grassroots mobility, and organisational discipline, according to a statement from her campaign.

“Strategy starts at the top, but the real work happens in our neighbourhoods, and these leaders carry that responsibility every single day,” Obasanjo was quoted as saying.

Vehicles were presented to party leadership in Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, and Ifo to “ease logistics and boost mobilisation,” the statement added.

A Political Comeback After 15 Years

The meeting marks the latest step in Obasanjo’s return to active politics after a 15-year absence from the Senate, where she served from June 2007 to June 2011.

The daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo first won the Ogun Central senatorial seat on the PDP platform in 2007, later defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in January 2026 after nearly 15 years away from the political scene.

Her brief APC tenure ended in acrimony.

On May 31, 2026, Obasanjo resigned from the ruling party, citing “persistent disrespect, rejection and unfair treatment by the party leadership” in a letter addressed to the Ogun State APC Chairman, Chief Yemi Sanusi.

“A famous person once said that 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,” she wrote.

She later told a television audience that she left because “the consensus candidate failed to keep the promises he made to me and my followers.”

She subsequently rejoined the PDP and secured the party’s senatorial ticket on June 17, 2026, pledging “loyalty to the party” and promising to “prioritise the welfare of the people above personal and sectional interests.”

The Iyaniwura Foundation as a Political Vehicle

At the heart of Obasanjo’s grassroots strategy is the Iyaniwura Foundation, a platform she has maintained for years that provides “interaction and support among ordinary people” and has remained “an important vehicle through which she has maintained contact with communities at the grassroots.”

During the PDP campaign flag-off in August, Obasanjo promised to “bring back the Iyaniwura foundation, which gave succor to people at the grassroots through poverty alleviation programmes.”

Her foundation’s coordinators have, however, been the target of defections.

In August 2026, no fewer than 74 ward coordinators of the Iyaniwura Foundation reportedly withdrew their support and declared allegiance to the APC candidate.

The Incumbent’s Counter-Mobilisation

ADVERTISEMENT

Obasanjo is contesting against the incumbent, Senator Shuaib Afolabi Salisu of the APC, who is seeking re-election.

Salisu has mounted a parallel grassroots campaign, deploying what his office describes as sustained empowerment programmes across the district’s six local government areas.

In August 2026, Salisu donated N15 million to market women under his “OKOWO SALISU” empowerment programme, following an earlier disbursement of N100,000 each to beneficiaries in December 2025.

“When we strengthen our women, we strengthen our families, our markets and the entire local economy of Ogun Central,” Salisu said at the event.

His digital literacy initiative has trained over 2,000 constituents across nine editions, with beneficiaries receiving laptops.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Ogun Joint Campus Council formally endorsed Salisu for re-election on September 10, 2026, citing interventions including payment of JAMB registration fees for over 1,000 students and the facilitation of a solar-powered digital learning centre at Ansarudeen Grammar School in Abeokuta North.

A Contest Shaped by Grassroots Structures

Both campaigns have framed the 2027 contest as a battle for the district’s grassroots base. Obasanjo’s ward chairmen meeting and vehicle donations follow her inauguration of about 370 ward coordinators across the six local government areas in August, where she distributed motorcycles to coordinators to “cut through bad roads, reach remote communities, and penetrate polling areas where transportation has always killed grassroots politics.”

Salisu’s camp has countered with its own record of constituency projects and empowerment schemes, positioning the incumbent as a candidate with verifiable deliverables.

The contest is expected to test the strength of both parties’ organisational structures across the district’s 74 wards.

For voters in Ogun Central, the coming months will determine whether the competing narratives of “restoring lost glories” and “sustained representation” translate into electoral advantage.