Pantami secures PDP ticket after repeat governorship primary in Gombe

Former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has emerged as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State for the 2027 election.

Pantami won the party’s repeat governorship primary conducted across the 114 wards in the state’s 11 local government areas on Tuesday.

He polled 2,024 votes to defeat his two challengers, former House of Representatives member Ahmed Khamisu Mailantarki, who scored 389 votes, and former Gombe State House of Assembly member Usman Aliyu Garry, who secured 112 votes.

The repeat primary followed the nullification of the earlier PDP governorship primary, which had produced Pantami as the party’s candidate.

The fresh exercise was conducted pursuant to an order of the Federal High Court sitting in Gombe, following a suit filed by Garry challenging the process that produced Pantami.

Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed had ordered the PDP to conduct a fresh governorship primary in the state, bringing Pantami, Mailantarki and Garry into another contest for the party’s governorship ticket.

Announcing the results at the Gombe State PDP Secretariat on Tuesday evening, Chairman of the Primary Election Committee from the PDP National Headquarters, Abuja, Johnbull Shekarau, commended party members and stakeholders for what he described as the peaceful conduct of the exercise.

With the declaration, Pantami is set to lead the PDP into the 2027 governorship election in Gombe State, subject to the completion of relevant electoral and legal processes.