A Federal High Court in Gombe has nullified the governorship ticket of former minister Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, ordering the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to conduct a fresh primary election.
Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed, while delivering the judgment on Thursday directed the PDP to organize a new election that strictly follows the internal guidelines of the party and the electoral laws of the country.
The ruling originated from a lawsuit filed by Usman Aliyu Garry, a fellow PDP aspirant who approached the court to challenge the process that made Pantami the party’s flagbearer, stressing that the party skipped a proper election and instead declared Pantami its sole candidate through a simple voice affirmation in May 2026.
Pantami’s journey to the PDP ticket has been controversial. He originally sought the governorship ticket under the All Progressives Congress (APC) but dumped the party after it chose Jamilu Gwamna as its consensus candidate. Shortly after his defection, the PDP handed Pantami its ticket, which resulted to legal pushback from internal stakeholders including Garry.
The decision by the court has throws the Gombe governorship race wide open again, forcing the PDP leadership to return to the drawing board and set a date for a fresh, transparent primary election ahead of the 2027 polls.
Leave a comment