Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, turned a public symposium into a comedy show on Friday as they exchanged hilarious jibes, leaving the audience in stitches.
The father-daughter drama unfolded at the main auditorium of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun State, during the third edition of the Ajibosin Symposium, organised as part of activities marking the Odun Omo Olowu festival.
Iyabo, a former Ogun State Commissioner for Health and senator who represented Ogun Central, was among the panellists at the event, which focused on the theme: “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Solve Grassroots Problems and Accelerate National Development.”
The drama started when the moderator, Prof. Yemi Oke, SAN, invited Iyabo to share her thoughts on the subject.
While acknowledging dignitaries at the gathering, including the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, Oba Saka Matemilola, and former Minister of Industry, Mrs Onikepo Akande, Iyabo also recognised her father, who was present at the event.
But in a seemingly deliberate attempt to stir laughter, she described the former President as someone “who I don’t know”.
Her remark immediately sent the audience into laughter.
Not one to let the opportunity pass, Obasanjo later took the microphone to contribute to the discussion but began by taking a playful swipe at his daughter.
The former President, who admitted that he knew little about artificial intelligence, warned that technology could be abused when it was not properly controlled.
“Anything that is not in your control can be abused against you,” he said.
Turning to Iyabo, he added: “And you can see it (abuse) has already started.
“Iyabo doesn’t know her father. That’s abuse of AI already.”
The audience reportedly erupted in laughter once again.
Obasanjo, popularly known as the Ota farmer, subsequently turned to the Nigerian economy, expressing concern over what he described as the country’s tendency to adopt economic prescriptions from young, foreign-trained experts without sufficient consideration of local realities.
He acknowledged that many of the experts were brilliant, having attended prestigious institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge and Ivy League universities.
However, he questioned their understanding of Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances.
Taking another swipe at Iyabo, who also studied abroad, he said: “And some of my children, including Iyabo here, went to those universities. She went to one of the Ivy League universities. But how can Iyabo now be the one who will tell me how I will run my home?”
FROM FAMILY FEUD TO PUBLIC BANTER
The exchange was particularly striking given the father and daughter’s history of public disagreement.
In December 2013, Iyabo made headlines after publishing an explosive open letter to her father, in which she criticised his leadership style, accused him of mistreating family members and questioned his political conduct.
The 11-page letter, written against the backdrop of Obasanjo’s controversial intervention in national politics at the time, exposed the bitter disagreements within the family.
However, relations between the two appear to have improved over the years.
Speaking recently on TVC, Iyabo dismissed suggestions that she was still at loggerheads with her father, describing their relationship as one that had evolved beyond the conventional father-daughter bond.
She said: “I am the oldest child, I don’t even know how to describe our relationship, we are more than friends now. I will be 60 next year and he will be 90 next year. At this age I don’t need a lot of fathering, we are more like friends but friends with a deep connection.”
IYABO’S POLITICAL COMEBACK
The public exchange also comes as Iyabo makes a return to active politics after more than a decade away from the political scene.
She represented Ogun Central Senatorial District between 2011 and 2017 but lost her re-election bid.
In early 2026, she returned to the political arena, initially joining the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and declaring her ambition to become Ogun State governor.
However, she lost the party’s governorship ticket to Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, who represents Ogun West in the Senate.
She subsequently returned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which later gave her its ticket to contest the Ogun Central senatorial seat in the 2027 general elections.
With her political comeback and improved relationship with her father, Friday’s light-hearted exchange offered a rare glimpse of the warmer side of the Obasanjo family.
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