EXCLUSIVE: Jim Nwobodo Set To Dump APC For PDP Ahead Of February Polls

Barring a last-minute change of mind, THE WHISTLER can authoritatively report that the former governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo will return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming weeks.

Nwobodo, a founding member of the PDP, had left the party in January 2016 to the All Progressives Congress (APC) over failure by the party’s leadership at the time to stop five sitting governors from leaving the party.

The former Minister of Youths and Sports had explained that his defection to the APC was to enable his people in Enugu “to be part of the Federal Government at the centre” and “be reintegrated and have our own share of the Federal Government resources.”

A source close to the politician who spoke with THE WHISTLER on condition of anonymity, said Chief Nwobodo has decided to return to the party he helped found. The source said the formal announcement of the ex-senator’s defection to the PDP may take place in the next couple of weeks.

“I can confirm to you that any moment from now, Chief Nwobodo will announce his return to the PDP. He has consulted widely with some South East leaders and is ready to return to the party.

“He never wanted to leave the PDP when he left, but the problems in the party at the time left him with no option other than to leave. He may have realized that the APC was never what it portrayed itself to be when he joined the party,” the source told our correspondent.

Meanwhile, Chief Nwobodo’s planned defection to the PDP may be in response to the traction the main opposition party is currently gaining in the South East.

There is a general consensus that the region in forming a united bloc to support the 2019 presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who has picked his vice presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, from the region.