Real reason I left PDP to join APC – Obasanjo finally breaks silence

Real reason I left PDP to join APC – Obasanjo finally breaks silence

Former senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello has said her decision to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) was influenced by the support she received from members of the ruling party during her long absence from active politics.

Obasanjo-Bello, daughter of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, made the disclosure on Friday while appearing on Channels Television’s Morning Brief.

She explained that she had stayed away from partisan politics for more than 15 years after leaving the Senate and was no longer a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since 2011.

According to the former lawmaker, her political journey took a different turn after she failed in her bid to secure re-election to the Senate in 2011.

During that period, she said she shifted her focus to personal development and academic pursuits.

Obasanjo-Bello noted that she attended a leadership programme at Harvard University and later began work on her doctoral studies.

Reflecting on her return to the political space, she said the APC stood out because its members maintained contact with her throughout the years she spent outside active politics.

Obasanjo-Bello added that her renewed engagement in politics comes after years devoted to education and leadership training following her exit from the Sena

“I have not been involved with the PDP as an active member or even as a member since 2011. I don’t see it as leaving one group to join another. I had no party.

“The other part of it is that when I was away, the people who reached out to me, the people I was talking to, are all in the APC. I don’t think anybody in the current PDP as it is, or the ADC as it’s trying to be, communicated with me or asked, ‘How are you doing?’

“So for me, that was the fundamental reason. Yes, it’s all politics, but politicians are still human beings.

“So it was a decision made from that personal reason, people reached out to me, they were talking to me, not to lobby me, but just to say, ‘We care about you, we like you, we love you as a human being. How are you doing?’” she said.