Natasha Osawaru Idibia, 2Baba’s wife and Edo lawmaker, made a bold presidential promise to her grandfather Chief Gabriel Igbinedion at his 92nd birthday.
So this one caught a lot of people off guard.
At her grandfather’s 92nd birthday party last week, Natasha Osawaru Idibia stood up and made a promise most people wouldn’t dare say out loud, let alone in front of a room full of guests. She told her grandfather, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, that she’s going to become Nigeria’s president. Not someday, not eventually. In his lifetime.
That’s a big statement, and it’s the kind of thing that gets people talking fast.
Here’s some context. Chief Igbinedion is the Esama of Benin Kingdom, a well-known businessman and philanthropist, and the man behind Igbinedion University Okada. He just turned 92, and the family threw him a private celebration in Edo State to mark it. Natasha, who’s 31 and represents Egor Constituency in the Edo State House of Assembly, used the moment to speak from the heart.
“I love you so much. I promise you that I’ll be the president of this country before you go. And I’ll make you very, very proud,” she told him, according to a clip that’s now making the rounds online.
Sweet moment between granddaughter and grandfather, sure. But there’s more to why this is getting attention.
Natasha isn’t just anybody’s granddaughter. The Igbinedion name carries serious weight in Edo politics. Her family has produced a former state governor, a former House of Representatives member, a one-time education commissioner, and more. Political ambition basically runs through this bloodline. So when Natasha says she wants the presidency, it doesn’t sound completely out of left field. It sounds like she might actually mean it.
This is also the first time she’s said anything like this in public. Up until now, most people knew her mainly as a lawmaker and, honestly, as 2Baba’s wife. Their marriage has had its own share of headlines lately, including that widely talked-about incident at an Abuja nightclub a few weeks back, which 2Baba later brushed off as nothing serious.
But this birthday moment shifts the conversation a bit. It’s not about her marriage this time. It’s about her own ambition, stated plainly, in front of family and friends.
Will she actually run someday? Nobody knows yet. But she’s put it out there now, and in Nigerian politics, once something is said out loud at a family gathering with cameras rolling, it tends to stick around in people’s memory.
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