Early life and education
Obasanjo attended Corona School in Victoria Island,Political career
Before her senatorial election, Obasanjo was Ogun State Commissioner for Health. She was elected as a NigerianSenate career
Obasanjo was elected to the Senate on 28 April 2007 on a People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform; her Action Congress (AC) opponent Remilekun Bakare challenged this outcome, but the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal upheld her victory. She was the Chairman of the Senate's Health Committee, and a member of the Security & Intelligence, Land Transport, Science & Technology, Education, National Planning, and Inter-Parliamentary Committees. She lost her seat during the National Assembly Elections on 9 April 2011. Her political reign finally came to a halt in 2015 when she was ‘crushed’ by Senator Gbenga Obadara who snatched the Ogun Central Senatorial district from her.Assassination attempt
In April 2003, on the day of the general elections her car was shot at on Ifo Road in Ogun State. Although she was not in the car, 3 adults and 2 children in the car died. The perpetuators were never caught.EFCC investigation
In April 2008, Obasanjo came under investigation by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) due to the investigations involving the former minister of health, Prof. Adenike Grange, and the minister of state for health, Gabriel Aduku, for the embezzlement of public funds. The ministry at the end of the financial year did not return all unspent funds to the government coffers. The amount was 300 million Naira, which was allegedly distributed among the minister, her minister of state and top civil servants on the Senate and House health committee she chairs. The minister and her deputy were forced to resign after returning their share of the money; they were later arrested and posted bail. Obasanjo refused to return her portion of this money, 10 million naira. She claimed that the nine members of her committee "lobbied" for funds from the ministry they oversaw. She maintained this money was spent on a conference on capacity building some members of the health committee attended in Ghana. She has so far refused to appear before the EFCC. Although summoned, along with the minister and other civil servants, she refused to appear in court. A week later a high drama ensued when officials of the EFCC tried to arrest her at her home in the Maitama district of Abuja city, after several simultaneous stake outs by law enforcement officials that had her jumping over her fence to evade arrest by Nigerian law enforcement officers. In 2009 the case was thrown out of the High Court in Abuja as having no merit. Obasanjo described the allegation as "blackmail", and said she was being targeted because she was the daughter of the former president.Post-senate career
In 2018, a letter from Obasanjo to her father in 2013 resurfaced following a statement sent by her father to President Muhammadu Buhari, which she blamed on supporters of the Buhari administration. She also urged the Buhari administration to heed her father's advice and not seek re-election.Academic career
She worked in Clinical Research in the US before returning to Nigeria in 2003. she was a Fellow and for 2013 a Senior Fellow at Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative. She is currently an assistant professor at thePersonal life
Obasanjo married Oluwafolajimi Akeem Bello in September 1999. The couple separated after Obasanjo filed for divorce on 19 May 2003. They both have one child; Jimi Bello born on 1 January 2000 in Chatham County,References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obasanjo, Iyabo 1967 births Living people Queen's College, Lagos alumni Cornell University alumni Nigerian epidemiologists Nigerian women academics College of William & Mary faculty University of California, Davis alumni Yoruba women in politics Iyabo Peoples Democratic Party members of the Senate (Nigeria) Politicians from Ogun State Children of presidents Nigerian expatriates in the United States Politicians from Lagos University of Ibadan alumni 21st-century Nigerian women politicians Senators of the 6th National Assembly (Nigeria)