PDP Has No Presidential Candidate — Iyabo Obasanjo
Former Senator Iyabo Obasanjo has declared that, as far as she is concerned, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has no presidential candidate for the 2027 election, distancing herself from the party’s national campaign and insisting that her focus remains entirely on Ogun State.
Obasanjo, the daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the PDP’s senatorial candidate for Ogun Central, made the remarks during an interview while speaking about the party’s presidential race.
Her comments come despite the PDP announcing former Cross River governorship candidate, Senator Sandy Onor, as its consensus presidential candidate for the 2027 election in May. The party, led by Abdulrahman Mohammed, presented Onor with a certificate of return and its flag after he emerged as the sole aspirant following consultations and voice votes among party members.
However, Iyabo Obasanjo said she was unaware of any such candidate and had no reason to campaign for someone she did not know.
“To my knowledge, there is no PDP presidential candidate. If it’s the one you mentioned, I don’t know him, there’s no reason for me to tell people to vote for him because at that meeting they did not actually tell us anything of the sort,” she said.
She added that the existence or otherwise of a presidential candidate was not important to her campaign in Ogun State.
“I think, really it’s not important, to be honest, if we have a presidential candidate or not because the focus of our campaign in Ogun State is Ogun State. I am not in this race as part of the national campaign; we are focused on our state,” Obasanjo stated.
Asked whether she would join the PDP presidential candidate during any campaign visit to Ogun State, the former senator said she had received no communication from the party’s national leadership and doubted she would take part.
“As of now, we have no information from the national office that the presidential candidate will be coming to the state. I do not believe I will be there because, again, my focus is Ogun State. I am not really focused on the national race in any shape or form,” she said.
Obasanjo only recently returned to the PDP after resigning from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). She left the APC in May after losing the party’s governorship ticket in Ogun State and rejoined the PDP in June, where she was immediately handed the party’s ticket for the Ogun Central Senatorial District.
At the time of her return, she pledged loyalty to the PDP’s constitution, manifesto and code of conduct and promised to prioritise the welfare of the people.
Speaking further during the interview, Obasanjo also commented on the internal challenges facing the APC in Ogun State, saying it was normal for political parties to attempt to attract dissatisfied members from rival camps.
“Isn’t that the game in politics? Isn’t that what politics is all about? It is the job of everybody to keep their internal people together,” she said.
She also stressed the importance of reconciliation after party primaries, arguing that aggrieved members should be made to feel included.
“Sometimes it’s not money. Sometimes it’s just this feeling that you are part of something. Politics is being part of a group and knowing that that group has your interests at heart,” she added.
