A governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State, Iyabo Obasanjo, has expressed confidence in her chances of emerging the party’s candidate, saying her popularity gives her an edge ahead of the 2027 election.
Speaking on her prospects during appearance on Channels Television on Thursday, Obasanjo said the adoption of a consensus arrangement by the party could work in her favour.
“I think it is an advantage for me. Many of (other) candidates have not declared but they’ve been doing things that indicated they would run, and then there’s no new candidate declaring now for the governorship in Ogun much later than I declared,” she said.
She added that many of her potential rivals have yet to engage directly with voters, unlike her ongoing grassroots efforts.
“Many of them have not really done anything in terms of going to communities and talking about their candidature,” she stated.
Obasanjo also emphasised that her support base is rooted in her record in public office rather than financial inducement.
“For me, I think it is an advantage and I feel very confident of my popularity on the ground. My popularity is not based on money inducement, it is based on my performance I had as a commissioner for health and as a senator,” she said.
“As a senator in my district, everybody still says I performed the best. You can ask the man on the street, you can go to the marketplace,” she added.
On the party’s plan to adopt consensus in selecting its candidate, Obasanjo argued that the approach would ultimately reflect the will of party members and voters.
“I do believe that consensus can bring the right candidates because consensus does not mean that leadership ignores the will of the people; consensus means that they look at what the people are saying. No party wants to lose, so the party will not choose people that open them for a loss,” she said.
She further maintained that consensus would favour candidates with broad appeal and electoral strength.
“The consensus is going to come towards people that can actually win on the ground, if that makes sense, because at the end of the day, the party wants to win.
“So, they do not want to put the least popular person as the consensus candidate in a way that is going to aggravate the other participants and in a way that is going to discourage people that are popular from participating. So, I have full belief that consensus is the way to go.” Obasanjo said.