The Politics of Panic: Why Iyabo Obasanjo Is Under Coordinated Attack

By Odun Agbalajobi

The recent opinion article titled “Iyabo Obasanjo’s Political Echo Chamber” is not the devastating critique its anonymous authors imagine it to be. Rather, it is an unmistakable confession of anxiety.

When a political movement begins to devote precious energy to attacking a candidate it claims is “irrelevant,” discerning observers naturally ask a simple question: If she is truly inconsequential, why the desperation to diminish her?

Politics has taught us that powerful political establishments rarely expend ammunition on opponents they consider harmless.

The truth is obvious.
Senator Prof. Iyabo Obasanjo has unsettled the political calculations of those who assumed her political journey ended with her principled departure from the All Progressive Party(APC). Instead of disappearing, she has re-emerged stronger, more determined and armed with an even clearer sense of purpose.

The authors accuse her of speaking from an “echo chamber.” Yet they conveniently ignore the circumstances that brought Nigeria to this political moment.

Prof. Iyabo Obasanjo did not lose a democratic contest for the APC governorship ticket. She was among aspirants who subjected themselves to the party’s internal process, only for the aspirations of many loyal party members to be swept aside by a predetermined consensus arrangement.

She nevertheless demonstrated uncommon maturity by dissolving her political structures, urging her supporters to remain peaceful and publicly backing the party’s eventual choice.

That was not the conduct of a sore loser. It was the conduct of a disciplined democrat. If, after that sacrifice, she concluded that the values of fairness, mutual respect and internal democracy had been compromised, she was perfectly entitled—both morally and constitutionally—to seek another political platform.

Defection in pursuit of conviction is neither a crime nor a weakness. Nigerian democracy is built on freedom of political association.

Her critics ask where her political structures are. The better question is this: If she truly has no structures, why has her emergence generated so much nervous commentary?

Political structures are not measured by anonymous articles. They are measured by people. Across Ogun Central, thousands of citizens who identified with her governorship aspiration did not suddenly lose faith in her because she changed party. They followed the values she represents—integrity, competence and accessibility.

The attempt to reduce her political relevance to family pedigree is equally dishonest. Prof. Iyabo Obasanjo has served in the Senate, contributed to national policy, built professional credibility in academia and public service, and earned respect through her own accomplishments.

Avid political watchers will never forget her era as Commissioner for Health in Ogun State between 2003 to 2007 during which she visited and renovated General Hospitals in each of the 20 Local Governments. Not that alone. It is on record that in that capacity, she hired more Doctors and Nurses than at any time in Ogun’s history.

Who would not remember her political movement called Iyaniwura Foundation with which she ran and convincingly won the Senatorial ticket in 2007, a period during which she unleashed great developmental strides across nooks and crannies of the Ogun Central communities.

Her surname may attract attention, but her public record sustains it. Most revealing, however, is the complete silence of her critics on the issues she has raised.

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Rather than engage her call for more responsive representation, greater accountability and people-centred leadership, they resort to sarcasm and ridicule. When arguments become difficult to defeat, propaganda often becomes the substitute.

History offers many examples of political establishments dismissing opponents as “finished” until election results proved otherwise.

Democratic contests are not decided by newspaper adjectives or social media taunts. They are decided by voters. Those who celebrate today’s political dominance should remember that power in a democracy is always on loan from the people.

Prof. Iyabo Obasanjo’s campaign is not built on bitterness.It is built on belief—belief that Ogun Central deserves representation that is visible, responsive and relentlessly committed to the welfare of its people.

She has chosen to face the electorate rather than complain from the sidelines. She has offered herself for public scrutiny. She has presented her vision.

Ultimately, the verdict will not come from anonymous opinion writers. It will come from the people of Ogun Central. And in every democracy worthy of its name, the people—not propaganda—have the final word.