Four governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State have alleged plans to bring in former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, to contest the party’s governorship primary.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that the aspirants made the allegation in a communique issued after an emergency meeting held on Sunday in Gombe.
Those who signed the communique were Alhaji Abdulkadir Hamma Saleh, Hon. Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, Hon. Usman Aliyu Garry and Mrs Monica Kaltho.
The aspirants said they were aware of rumours that Pantami, who participated in the recently concluded All Progressives Congress governorship primary in the state, was planning to defect to the PDP to contest its primary.
“Following the rumoured attempt by an aspirant, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, who participated in the recently concluded governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to defect to the PDP with the sole aim of contesting in our party’s governorship primaries, we deem it necessary to make our position known,” the communique read.
They argued that the law does not permit a candidate to defect from one political party to another and contest in the same election process after votes had already been cast and counted in his favour in another party’s primary.
The aspirants said that while they welcomed well-meaning individuals into the PDP, they would resist any attempt to allow a person who had already contested in another party’s primary to participate in the PDP governorship primary.
“We therefore condemn in the strongest terms the alleged attempt to smuggle into the PDP primaries an aspirant who, by law and established democratic principles, is ineligible to participate, having already contested in the APC governorship primaries held on May 21, 2026,” they said.
The aspirants said they had earlier agreed to allow the party leadership to select one suitable candidate from among them to fly the PDP flag.
They said the decision was taken in deference to the state party leadership, including former governor Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.
“We, the undersigned aspirants, in respect and deference to the leadership of our party, particularly the Leader of the Party in Gombe state, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, and the entire party structure across the state and the 11 LGAs, revered Elders Committee, unanimously agreed in principle to allow the party leadership to select, from among us, one suitable candidate to fly the party’s flag in the forthcoming gubernatorial election, without any preconditions,” the communique added.
The aspirants urged the PDP leadership to avoid any action that could expose the party to legal challenges.
They warned that allowing Pantami into the primary could undermine the rule of law and trigger litigation from party members or opposition parties.
They said, “Such actions, if allowed, may ultimately lead to serious legal challenges from concerned party members and even opposition parties.
“While we welcome every well-meaning individual into the PDP, we strongly object to any attempt to involve such a person in the ongoing PDP gubernatorial primaries, which have already reached an advanced stage.”
A close associate, who spoke anonymously with Daily Trust, confirmed that the former minister was planning to join the PDP.
“Yes, it is true, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami will join the PDP ahead of the governorship primary election,” the associate said.