Ex-Nigerian senator dumps PDP after 27 years, joins ADC

The former senator said the decision to leave the party was a difficult one.

Gilbert Nnaji, a former Nigerian senator, has resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Nnaji, who represented Enugu East District under the PDP platform from 2011 to 2019, announced this in his resignation letter, which he uploaded on Facebook on Monday.

The former senator addressed the letter to the chairperson of the PDP in his Umuenwene Ward, Iji-Nike, a community in the Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State.

He said his decision to resign from the PDP after 27 years in the party was “a difficult task.”

“I respectfully inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the Peoples Democratic Party after 27 years.

“Indeed, it was a difficult task to arrive at this conclusion.

“This is particularly given the national development prospects and opportunities that the PDP of our dreams held for our dear country, Nigeria,” he said in the letter dated 26 December 2025.

Mr Nnaji stated that he had been “faithfully committed” to the PDP and made immense contributions to the growth of the party over the years in various capacities.

The politician stressed that the PDP has become “irredeemable” despite being founded on democratic ideals driven by unity, patriotism, justice, fairness, and transparency.

Why I am joining ADC

Mr Nnaji said in the letter that he was joining the African Democratic Congress (ADC) because he found in the ADC “a veritable and promising ground with great and motivated like-minded compatriots to join forces in redirecting the ship of our Nigerian state.”

Since 2019, when he lost the PDP senatorial ticket to his former political ally, Chimaroke Nnamani, Mr Nnaji has been politically inactive.

Mr Nnamani, a former governor of Enugu State, would later miss out in his bid to return to the upper chamber of the National Assembly in 2023 when he lost to then-Labour Party candidate, Kelvin Chukwu, who has now joined the All Progressives Congress.

Observers believe that Mr Nnaji may later seek the ADC ticket to return to the Senate in 2027.