Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello was elected as a Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n Senator

Senate of Nigeria

The Senate is the upper house of the National Assembly of Nigeria. It consists of 109 senators: the 36 states are divided in 3 senatorial districts each electing one senator; the Federal Capital Territory elects only one senator....

 representing Ogun Central Senatorial District

Nigerian National Assembly delegation from Ogun

The Nigerian National Assembly delegation from Ogun comprises three Senators, representing Ogun East, Ogun Central, and Ogun West, and nine Representatives, representing Ijebu-Ode/Odogbolu/Ijebu North East, Remo, Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Egbado South and Ipokia, Ogun East, Imeko Afon/Yewa...

 of Ogun State

Ogun State

Ogun State is a state in South-western Nigeria. It borders Lagos State to the South, Oyo and Osun states to the North, Ondo State to the east and the republic of Benin to the west. Abeokuta is the capital and largest city in the state...

 in April 2007.
She ran for reelection April 2011 on the PDP platform, but was defeated by Olugbenga Onaolapo Obadara

Olugbenga Onaolapo Obadara

Jeremiah Olugbenga Onaolapo Obadara is a Nigerian politician who was elected Senator for the Ogun Central constituency in Ogun State, Nigeria in the April 2011 elections. He ran on the Action Congress of Nigeria platform....

 of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),
who gained 102,389 votes to Obasanjo Bello's 56,312.
Obasanjo-Bello is the daughter of former President

President of Nigeria

The President of Nigeria is the Head of State and head of the national executive. Officially styled President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The current President of Nigeria is Goodluck Jonathan.-History:On October 1, 1960, Nigeria gained...

 Olusegun Obasanjo and Oluremi Obasanjo.

Education

Obasanjo-Bello attended Corona School in Victoria Island

Victoria Island (Nigeria)

Victoria Island is an affluent town that encompasses a former island of the same name that sits between Lagos Island and the Lekki Peninsula in the Lagos Lagoon. It is the main business and financial centre of Lagos, Nigeria. Victoria Island is one of the most exclusive and expensive areas to...

, Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

, Capital School in Kaduna

Kaduna

Kaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census...

, and Queen's College in Lagos. She obtained a degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Ibadan

University of Ibadan

The University of Ibadan is the oldest Nigerian university, and is located five miles from the centre of the major city of Ibadan in Western Nigeria...

 in Ibadan

Ibadan

Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State and the third largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, after Lagos and Kano, with a population of 1,338,659 according to the 2006 census. Ibadan is also the largest metropolitan geographical area...

 in 1988, a masters' degree in epidemiology from University of California, Davis

University of California, Davis

The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...

 in Davis

Davis, California

Davis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, in 1990, and a PhD in the same subject from Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 in Ithaca

Ithaca

Ithaca or Ithaka is an island located in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of and a little more than three thousand inhabitants. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia and...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, in 1994.

Political career

Before her senatorial election, Obasanjo-Bello was Ogun State Commissioner for Health.

Abia State indictment

Prior to the April 2007 general election

Nigerian general election, 2007

The Nigerian general elections of 2007 were held on 14 April and 21 April 2007. Governorship and state assembly elections were held on 14 April, while the presidential and national assembly elections were held a week later on 21 April. Umaru Yar'Adua won the highly controversial election for the...

, the government of Abia State

Abia State

Abia State is a state in southeastern Nigeria. The capital is Umuahia, although the major commercial city is Aba, formerly a British colonial government outpost. The state was created in 1991 from part of Imo State and its citizens are predominantly Igbo people...

 indicted numerous current and former public officials, including Obasanjo-Bello, on corruption and other charges; in December 2007 a Federal High Court in Umuahia

Umuahia

Umuahia is the capital of Abia State in southeastern Nigeria. Umuahia is located along the rail road that lies between Port Harcourt to Umuahia's south and Enugu city to its north. Umuahia has a population of 359,230 according to the 2006 Nigerian census. Umuahia's indigenous ethnic group are the...

 nullified the indictments on the grounds they were not filed in accordance with Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution

Constitution of Nigeria

The Constitution of Nigeria is the supreme law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.Nigeria has had a series of constitutions. The current constitution was enacted on 29 May 1999, inaugurating the Nigerian Fourth Republic.-Colonial era :...

.

Senate career

Obasanjo-Bello was elected to the Senate on April 28, 2007 on a People's Democratic Party

People's Democratic Party (Nigeria)

The People's Democratic Party is a political party in Nigeria. Its policies generally lie towards the right wing of the political spectrum. It has won every single Presidential elections since 1999, namely: 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic.-History:In...

 (PDP) platform; her Action Congress

Action Congress

The Action Congress of Nigeria , formerly known as Action Congress , is a classical liberal Nigerian political party formed via the merger of the Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of Democrats, and several other minor political parties in September 2006. The party...

 (AC) opponent Remilekun Bakare challenged this outcome, but the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal upheld her victory.

She is 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 April 9, 2011.

EFCC investigation

In April 2008, Obasanjo-Bello came under investigation by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud and money laundering...

 (EFCC) due to the investigations involving the Former Minister for Health and her minister for (state) Health, Prof. Adenike Grange

Adenike Grange

Adenike Grange is a former Nigerian Minister in charge of the Federal Ministry of Health.-Background:Adenike Grange attended high school in Lagos and then at St. Francis' College, Letchworth in the United Kingdom. From 1958 to 1964 she studied medicine at the University of St Andrews in Scotland...

, for 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. Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello 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 December 2007, Obasanjo-Bello came under investigation by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud and money laundering...

(EFCC) due to a dispute between her and Austrian firm M. Schneider GMBH and Co. The corporation claims that Obasanjo-Bello used the alias "Damilola Akinlawon" to sign a contract regarding the financing of a company; this newly-formed company was used to bid on ₦3.5 billion worth of energy-related contracts offered by her father's government. (Akinlawon is Oluremi Obasanjo's maiden name).

Obasanjo-Bello described the allegation as "blackmail", and said she was being targeted because she was the daughter of the former President.