…Nnamani suspended over gross misconduct, anti-party activities
…Two state assembly aspirants declared winners of primary election
…“A marriage of strange bedfellows”, APC Chieftain reacts, says Mbah’s victory clear
Chetanne Chinelo, Enugu
Cracks have emerged in the factionalised Enugu State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) months ahead of the 2027 general elections between two frontline governorship hopefuls Uche Nnaji and Samson Nnamani, PACESETTER reports.
The crisis which has led to the suspension of one of the governorship aspirants from Nkanu East, Samson Nnamani for one month over what was described as “gross misconduct and anti-party activities”, also saw the emergence of two aspirants, Barr. Ekene Okenwa of the Nnamani camp, and Francis Aniede of the Nnaji camp lay claims to being the authentic winners of the state assembly primary election for Nkanu West local government area.
PACESETTER reports that Nkanu West is the local government area of a frontline governorship aspirant under the PDP and immediate past Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji.
Our findings also revealed that the suspension of Samson Nnamani comes one day away from the governorship primary election of the PDP in Enugu scheduled to hold tomorrow, Sunday, May 24, 2026.
Sources within both factions of Nnamani and Nnaji deeply familiar with the crisis, spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, stating that they were not authorized to speak for their camps.
Samson Nnamani’s Camp
According to our source who preferred to remain anonymous, he described the news of Nnamani’s suspension as a laughable development, accusing the Nnaji camp of not following due process.
He further accused the camp of attempting to hijack the entire electoral process by keeping away the venue of the state assembly primary, thereby attempting to ensure that only aspirants loyal to Uche Nnaji participated.
“Their fear is the governorship primary election which is supposed to be held tomorrow because they do not have the numbers to win, seeing that the primaries will be by the Direct option.
“Yesterday, during their so called state assembly primary election in Nkanu West, there were not more than 50 persons present from the video I saw but if you see our own primaries, we had a massive crowd. We worked with the team from Abuja led by the National Organising Secretary of our party”.
He alleged that Nnaji didn’t attend any of the congress and national convention of the party but went ahead to covertly purchase the governorship form and be screened, confidently declaring “it will not hold, we can’t chicken out”.
“Nnaji was never prepared to participate in the primaries with us. They have no one, no structure. They had assumed that it would be just delegates that will participate in the primary election until the new Electoral Act provided for Direct and Consensus primary election only”, the anonymous source stated.
The source noted that their full response to the “purported suspension” will be made public after their meeting this morning.
Uche Nnaji’s Camp
When asked by our correspondent to react to the developments within the party, the reason for the parallel state assembly primaries and the suspension of Nnamani, the source maintained that there was no confusion or factions in the PDP.
He noted that the suspension of Samson Nnamani followed due process, while accusing Nnamani of wanting to stoke confusion in Nkanu West local government chapter of the party because it is the home local government of his fierce contender, Uche Nnaji.
“We do not have factions or splinter groups. The Enugu State PDP has just one state Chairman, Vitus Okechi, one Zonal chairman of Southeast in the person of Barr. Ray Nnaji, one state Secretary in the person of Chinonye Okereke, and this applies to every other position of the party.
“Nnamani is just stoking confusion in Nkanu West. He [Nnamani] produced the local government chairman of PDP in his local government [Nkanu East] and now went ahead to sponsor a rival local government chairman in Nkanu West (name withheld by PACESETTER) against the authentic local government chairman produced by Uche Nnaji”.
On the allegation that Nnaji surreptitiously procured the nomination and expression of interest form, the source stated that Nnaji was the first to purchase the form.
“The party at the national level made it clear that they had just one governorship form for Enugu and Nnaji purchased it. However, recalling the judgement of the court when Sule Lamido was prevented from participating in the national convention for the position of chairman of the party, we advised and another form was made available for Nnamani. Nnaji bought all the forms for the offices in Enugu State.
“On the Nkanu West state assembly primary election, Nnamani has no party structure. He only produced two local government party chairmen and doesn’t even have any ward executives produced to his credit. So, claiming that Uche Nnaji has no structure is the highest joke of the century.
“In preparation for the state assembly primary election, Nnamani’s camp refused to participate in the meetings held despite several invitations, claiming they hadn’t gotten clearance from their boss. So, they started the division.
“Before yesterday, we already had the Senate and House of Representatives primary election and nobody countered or challenged the outcome.
“For yesterday, the approved venue for the primaries didn’t come on time and when it did, we were mindful of confrontation, yet we eventually communicated the venue to them late because the approved venue came late as well.
“Probably they didn’t see the communicated venue early because by the time they came, we had already concluded the primaries while they went ahead to hold theirs in a separate venue without waiting for communication from the leadership and quickly rushed to the media to declare a winner”.
When quizzed about suspending a governorship hopeful one day to the primary election, the source explained that due process was followed.
“Nnamani created a parallel structure at the lower level against the established structure of the party. Further, he sponsored and shared publications attacking Nnaji’s aspiration, against the party’s stated guideline prohibiting aspirants from attacking each other.
“We also received intel of his romance with a faction of the party already ousted following the decision of the supreme court in the national leadership of our party.
“He was invited to face the disciplinary committee and explain the allegations against him. The letter was delivered via DHL and he acknowledged it. Hours to the time he was to appear before the committee, he sent a letter instead, claiming to be ill and indisposed to attend. After deliberations, he was eventually suspended.”
The source also claimed that INEC officials did not monitor the parallel primaries conducted by Nnamani’s group yesterday.
“A marriage of strange bedfellows”, APC Chieftain reacts
A chieftain and supporter of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State stated that he wasn’t surprised by the development.
Speaking to PACESETTER during a telephone interview, the supporter who chose to remain anonymous wondered why people should be surprised by the development, noting that it was long expected.
He asserted that only the All Progressives Congress had put their house in order ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“What you’re seeing in the PDP and all other opposition parties in Enugu State is a marriage of strange bedfellows united in their dislike for the governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah.
“Peter Mbah is the only one with the capacity to unite and lead Enugu state to the promised land but the desperation of certain individuals to get him out is what is responsible for the development in the opposition.
“This implosion is long overdue. Soon, you will hear that of NDC and other parties. As they continue to fight, the coast gets clearer for the smart governor Mbah to win the election”.
The developments in the Enugu State chapter of the PDP come in the face of the division at the national level of the party where both the Nyesom Wike and the Turaki groups have continued to lay claims to the leadership of the party following the decision of the Supreme Court.
It has also cast a shadow of uncertainty on what will be the outcome of the governorship primary in the state tomorrow.
More developments will be revealed as they occur.