Former senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello has revealed that her decision to join the All Progressives Congress was largely influenced by the consistent communication she received from members of the party during her long absence from active politics.
Obasanjo-Bello made the disclosure on Friday while speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Morning Brief.
She explained that the outreach and concern shown by APC members over the years played a significant role in her eventual political alignment with the party.
The daughter of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo noted that she had not been affiliated with the Peoples Democratic Party since 2011, following her unsuccessful bid to secure re-election to the Senate. After leaving active politics, she said she pursued academic development, attending a leadership programme at Harvard University and subsequently working towards her PhD.
“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.
