A former governor of the old Anambra State, South-East Nigeria, Jim Nwobodo, on Friday officially defected from the Peoples Democratic Party for the ruling All Progressive Congress.
Fidelis Okoro, a former senator representing Enugu North, and another chieftain of PDP, Richard Ozobu defected along with him.
They were received into the APC at the party’s meeting convened by Foreign Affairs Minister, Jeffrey Onyeama.
The meeting was attended by the state party chairman, Ben Nwoye, other members of the state executive and APC’s national vice chairman, South-East, Emma Eneukwu.
There were indications that the former PDP bigwigs’ defection did not go down well with some APC members, who openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the development.
Nwoye, who appeared to have prior knowledge of the defection, appealed to aggrieved party members to calm down before Nwobodo made his declaration speech.
Nwobodo, however, condemned the PDP and blamed the party’s leadership for allowing five governors to leave for the APC in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.
He said he joined the APC to move the people of Enugu State into the mainstream at the federal level.
He asked members of the APC not to be discouraged by the electoral losses they suffered in the state in the past.
Nwobodo said, “I am not looking for a job, I am talking because I want peace. I want our people to be part of the Federal Government at the centre.
“I am not coming into APC because I want anything. I want our people to be reintegrated and have our own share of the Federal Government resources.”
He recalled that while he was in PDP, his wife had always been an active member of the APC.
Nwobodo, also a former PDP senator representing Enugu East between 1999 and 2007, and a former sports minister, is currently under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for receiving N100 million from Mr. Dasuki, who allegedly diverted $2.1billion meant for arms purchase, to politicians.
The former governor has since denied that the money was for his personal use, claiming that it was meant for the PDP leaders in the South East zone to mobilize support for the re-election of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 election.
