The political temperature in Ogun State appears to be rising barely months ahead of the January 2027 elections, with allegations of systematic removal and defacement of campaign posters, banners and billboards belonging to Senator Iyabo Obasanjo generating fresh concerns over the character of the emerging electoral contest.
Supporters of the former Senator and Governorship aspirant have alleged that individuals believed to be acting on behalf of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC) have embarked on what they described as a coordinated campaign to erase her visibility from strategic locations across the state.
The allegation portends a disturbing dimension to what is already shaping up to be one of the most closely watched political contests in Ogun State.
Obasanjo’s campaign materials, according to sources close to the political movement, have repeatedly been removed or defaced in locations where they were legally and prominently displayed. Most affected are posters erected around Ibara and Oke-Ilewo in Abeokuta.
In some instances, posters and banners are said to have disappeared shortly after they were mounted, fuelling suspicions among her supporters that the development is neither accidental nor isolated.
The alleged pattern has prompted questions about the extent to which political competition in Ogun State is prepared to tolerate the visibility of an increasingly assertive opposition voice.
Campaign posters and billboards are ordinarily among the most basic instruments through which political candidates introduce themselves to voters. Their removal, therefore, goes beyond the destruction of pieces of paper, vinyl or advertising materials.
It potentially interferes with a candidate’s ability to communicate with the electorate.
For Obasanjo’s supporters, this is precisely what makes the alleged development troubling. They contend that removing her campaign materials amounts to an attempt to restrict the space available for her political message at a time when the electorate should be exposed to competing candidates, competing ideas and competing visions for the future of Ogun State.
The allegation has also revived memories of an earlier era in Ogun politics when struggles over political dominance frequently spilled into battles over campaign visibility, public spaces and the control of the political narrative.
That history has made the current development particularly sensitive.
The comparison being drawn by some political observers is with the era of former Ogun State Governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, when political rivalry was often fierce and political opponents engaged in intense struggles for territorial and political dominance.
Whether the current situation amounts to a deliberate strategy by the APC or the actions of unauthorised individuals remains a matter requiring investigation. But the frequency of the alleged incidents has already become a political talking point.
The controversy is coming at a time when Senator Prof. Iyabo Obasanjo has been steadily building political visibility across Ogun State.
The former Senator, daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has in recent months intensified her grassroots engagement, presenting herself as a formidable contender in the emerging 2027 political equation.
Her political activities have increasingly moved beyond conventional elite-level consultations. Through direct engagement with grassroots structures and various interest groups, she has sought to establish a political connection with voters across communities.
That strategy appears to have given her campaign a visibility that supporters believe is increasingly difficult to ignore. Her political opponents may therefore regard the spread of her campaign materials as more than ordinary publicity.
For her supporters, however, the attempts to remove them have had the opposite effect. Rather than diminishing the movement, they argue, the alleged attacks have strengthened the resolve of her supporters.
In a Press Statement, the Director-General, Iyabo Obasanjo Campaign Organization, Donaldson Biodun Ajayi, expressed outrage over the disturbing development and cautioned that security agents should rise to the challenge.
Said Ajayi: “All I can say to the perpetrators and sponsors of this dastardly act is that I am surprised that they are yet to learn lesson from history. They should remember that those who defaced rival contestants’ posters in time past always lose election at the end of the day”.
Sources close to the Obasanjo campaign say the development has not caused the aspirant to retreat.
Instead, she is reportedly determined to continue with her campaign and grassroots mobilisation, insisting that political victory cannot be secured by tearing down posters or intimidating political opponents.
The message from her camp is said to be one of defiance: the campaign will continue, the people will continue to be reached, and the January 2027 election will ultimately provide the people with the opportunity to decide.
The position is significant because the alleged destruction of campaign materials could easily have been used as a reason to escalate political rhetoric or provoke confrontation.
Instead, the emerging response from the Obasanjo camp appears to be to intensify political engagement while allowing the electorate to remain the ultimate arbiter.
Beyond the immediate political interests of Senator Obasanjo and her supporters, the controversy raises a larger question about the quality of democratic competition in Ogun State.
Elections are not merely about voting on election day. They are preceded by months of persuasion, debate, mobilisation, advertising and communication between candidates and citizens.
A healthy democratic environment should therefore allow political parties and aspirants to present their messages without fear that their campaign materials will be deliberately destroyed.
Where a candidate’s posters are removed because they violate advertising regulations or because they have been illegally placed, the appropriate authorities should enforce the law transparently.
But where campaign materials are destroyed simply because they belong to a political opponent, such conduct represents an entirely different problem.
It transforms legitimate political competition into political suppression. This is why the allegations deserve to be investigated rather than dismissed as ordinary campaign-season rivalry.
For the APC, the allegation presents an opportunity to demonstrate confidence in the democratic process.
If the party has nothing to do with the alleged removal of Obasanjo’s campaign materials, it can distance itself publicly from such activities and make clear that its supporters should compete through ideas, mobilisation and persuasion rather than intimidation or destruction.
Indeed, a politically confident ruling party should have little reason to fear the visibility of an opposition candidate.
Posters do not vote.
Billboards do not vote. It is the people who vote. And if the APC believes its record, candidates and political machinery command the confidence of Ogun voters, then the presence of Iyabo Obasanjo’s posters should constitute no existential threat.
The proper response to an opponent’s poster is another poster.
The proper response to another candidate’s message is a stronger message.
The proper response to another candidate’s mobilisation is greater mobilisation. That is the essence of democratic competition.
With the January 2027 elections drawing closer, the political stakes in Ogun State are becoming increasingly intense.
The emerging contest is likely to test not only the popularity of individual candidates but also the resilience of the state’s democratic institutions and political culture.
For Iyabo Obasanjo, the alleged campaign-material attacks may now have become another chapter in a political journey that she appears determined to pursue to its logical conclusion.
Her supporters insist that the campaign will not be intimidated. The message is straightforward: pull down the posters and they will put up more; obstruct the message and they will find another way to reach the people; challenge the movement and they will return to the grassroots.
The underlying belief is that an electoral campaign is ultimately bigger than its posters, banners and billboards.
It is about people.
And if the people have already begun to listen, no amount of campaign-material removal can permanently silence the conversation.
For Obasanjo, the road to January 2027 therefore continues. Undaunted. Unbowed. And apparently determined to press ahead until the votes are counted and the people have spoken.
