Former Ogun State Commissioner for Health and All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, has decried the insinuation of a favoured candidate for the governing party ticket in the state.
Senator Obasanjo made the declaration on Monday at the party’s national secretariat while speaking with journalists.
Contenders for the party ticket include former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Tunde Lemo from Ogun Central and Senator representing Ogun West senatorial district in the 10th Senate, Senator Olamilekan Adeola. Another aspirant from Ogun West is the incumbent deputy governor, Honourable Noimot Salako-Oyedele.
Further checks revealed that there is swelling agitation for zoning of the party ticket to Yewa, incidentally, the zone that Senator Adeola represents.
Senator Obasanjo, who once represented Ogun Central in the Red Chamber, however, maintained that the party ticket remains open.
She said, “For me, I’m joining the ticket, the race, because I think it’s open.
“Nothing is impossible. I don’t think there is a foregone. I’ve been in politics, so I’m not naive.
“I’m not joining because, oh, she doesn’t know what she’s doing. I’ve run twice. Once, I won. Once, I lost. I’ve been a commissioner. I know politics, so I know, for the most part, what I’m doing.
“So, I’m not naive enough to know that. What he’s talking about is that, in our state, we have three senatorial districts, and only two have produced governors. One has never produced a political governor since the start of politics, even going back to the Second Republic.”
The former Commissioner for Health, who acknowledged that Ogun West has not produced a governor for the state, however, noted that there must be a unified front for Yewa to secure the ticket.
She said, “Every zone should be able to produce a governor. But there has to be consistent work to do this.
“I can name several politicians from that zone that I supported personally. I supported a Governor who was a former military governor. I was the main person who took him around. We failed. My father supported another. He’s now in the House of Representatives. It failed.
“So, this is what I’m saying. If we don’t make a concerted effort and do it in a way… already, in the West, there are three candidates now.
“So, the chances are they are going to be scattered again. What we need is to actually create a unified front for the West. I’m not saying it’s not their time, but at the same time, a woman has never been governor.
“And that is also important to the women of Nigeria. We make up most of the voters. We need to inspire our daughters.
“And I’m not saying that Yewa people should not be inspired. But if everything we’ve done in the past has not worked, why do we think it will be different now? And I think I have the ability to actually get the West to a position that they will be able to secure the seat because it’s something I desire, too. I think that in a state like Ogun, every section has to be able to run for governor.
“But we have to get the candidate that will touch people’s hearts. And the kind of candidate that will not only win in Yewa, but will win in the East and the Central.
“So, we have to get the kind of candidate that can mobilise not their own people alone, but the two other zones.
“So, we need to build the profile of the kind of person that can stand alone and win elections in Ogun State as a Yewa person.”
Asked if she secured the blessings of her father, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for the governorship race, the former federal legislator responded tersely that she was convinced that the former president would vote for her.
“He is not part of my coming here today; it’s my personal decision, he is just another citizen that will vote for me.
“So he has not presented me with any platform. As I said, I made an informed decision to choose APC. And the reason I chose APC is personal to me.
“So this has nothing to do with my father. Like I said, he will vote for me, I am sure. But other than that, he is not part of my movement. He is not anything other than he will vote in the state, and hopefully I will be his governor,” she said.