Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, daughter of Nigeria’s former president, announced on Saturday that she is officially a serious contender in the 2027 Ogun State Governorship race.

She expressed her confidence in competing against other aspirants and is determined to secure the party’s nomination for the election, aiming to become the first female governor of the state.

Obasanjo, who previously served as the Commissioner for Health and Senator for Ogun Central, emphasized that she is running to bring meaningful change to the people of Ogun State.

“I am competing in the race from the beginning to the very end. I am not a pretender. I have served the people of the State as Commissioner for Health and also my constituents as a lawmaker. I have all the experience to administer the State, and it will be a thing of joy becoming the first female governor of the State,” she added.

On why she defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Obasanjo, said she joined the latter party after due consultation.

She explained that many of her political associates are already in APC, and that it would not be out of place to join the Progressives.

The former lawmaker said, “I feel a level of warmth, acceptance and highest regard from the party.”

The governorship aspirant expressed confidence in the administration of President Bola Tinubu in turning around the fortune of the country around.

She observed that the country is witnessing economy growth with stability in the naira, saying Nigerians can predict their income and how they spend their monies.

Obasanjo specifically identified the Lagos-Calabar coastal road as a laudable project that would boost the nation’s transportation system and bring about decongestion on some major roads, like Lagos-Ibadan highway.

Asked about her plans for the State if elected, Obasanjo promised to continue working on industrialising the State more, while applauding the Prince Dapo Abiodun-led administration for investing massively industrialisation.

“The current administration has done well by investing massively in industrialisation development. This is most impressive with the number of factories we have. With those number of factories, what comes with it, jobs opportunity and taxation. We are becoming the industrialisation of Nigeria. What does that mean? Guangzhou, any of you that have been to Guangzhou, that is how China started, right? Factories were taken from America to China. So now China is bringing factories here. This is an opportunity for the state to become the Guangzhou of China,” she explained.

Talking on education, the University don cum politician said one of her plans is to established a secondary school for science and technology.

“Education is important. We used to be the cradle of education. One of the things I’m going to think, I’m thinking of doing, but you know, until one study this, one of them is doing a secondary school for science and technology. And what it will be, the idea is to take people from primary school that have their best results and put them in this school, because science and technology is the future.

“I would like to have an ICT hub, the phone centers which speak English. Majority of phone centres across the world is simple ICT and that people can have jobs. So we can be IT and ICT or with technology. There’s so much jobs in technology. So a secondary school focus on tech that the children that come out of those schools, we’re setting them up to be, to use science and technology, using local knowledge,” she noted. (TRIBUNE)