The candidacy of Senator Prof. Iyabo Obasanjo for the Ogun Central Senatorial District in the 2027 elections remains intact, her media aide, Dr. Odun Agbalajobi, has said, dismissing reports that Thursday’s Supreme Court judgment on the Electoral Act automatically disqualified her from the race.
Agbalajobi, in a statement on Friday, described interpretations linking the September 24, 2026, judgment directly to Obasanjo’s candidacy as misleading and legally speculative.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld an appeal by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against a Court of Appeal judgment that had voided provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 relating to political party membership registers and the nomination of candidates. The apex court restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Act.
The case arose from a legal challenge instituted by the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), with INEC subsequently appealing the Court of Appeal’s decision to the Supreme Court. The disputed provisions address requirements for party membership registers and methods of nominating candidates through direct primaries or consensus.
According to Agbalajobi, however, Obasanjo was not a party to the case and the Supreme Court judgment did not name her or issue an order expressly disqualifying her from contesting the Ogun Central seat.
“It is therefore both mischievous and intellectually dishonest to transform a judgment in a dispute between INEC and a political party into a purported judicial pronouncement against a particular candidate who was neither a party to the suit nor the subject of the judgment,” he said.
The aide argued that there was a distinction between the Supreme Court’s interpretation of general electoral requirements and a specific judicial determination that a particular candidate was ineligible to contest an election.
He said no such determination was made against Obasanjo in the September 24 judgment.
Agbalajobi also referred to Obasanjo’s political movement in 2026, saying she resigned from the All Progressives Congress in May and subsequently returned to the Peoples Democratic Party, where she was presented with the party’s ticket for Ogun Central.
He maintained that the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the disputed provisions of the Electoral Act did not, by itself, amount to a declaration that every politician who had changed political parties was ineligible to contest an election.
“Those circulating these claims should produce the specific paragraph of the Supreme Court judgment in which Senator Iyabo Obasanjo was mentioned, the specific order disqualifying her, or the specific judicial pronouncement invalidating the PDP’s nomination of her,” he said.
The aide urged the public, particularly voters in Ogun Central, to distinguish between the actual orders and findings of the Supreme Court and political interpretations of the judgment circulating online.
He said Obasanjo would continue her engagement with communities across Ogun Central and focus on issues affecting constituents ahead of the 2027 elections.
The Supreme Court’s ruling came after the Court of Appeal, in July, had struck down the disputed provisions on the grounds that they were inconsistent with constitutional protections relating to political parties. The apex court subsequently set aside that decision and restored the provisions.
Whether any separate legal challenge concerning Obasanjo’s eligibility or the validity of her party nomination arises would depend on the specific facts and applicable electoral provisions; Thursday’s Supreme Court case itself concerned the constitutionality and operation of the disputed provisions of the Electoral Act.
