Gombe PDP Governorship Aspirants Reject Pantami's Candidacy

Some governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party in Gombe State have rejected the choice of former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa-Ali Pantami, as the party’s governorship candidate. They claim that the process that led to his emergence did not follow due process.

The unhappy aspirants spoke separately on Tuesday. They accused the party leaders of ignoring those who had already bought nomination forms, gone through screening, and were cleared for the primary election.

One of the aspirants, Abdulkadir Saleh, said he met all the requirements set by the party before the process was allegedly changed. “To my knowledge, I know that I followed all the due process by purchasing the form, did all the clearance and I went for screening in Abuja and was cleared,” Saleh said.

He expressed shock at how the primary election was handled. “The primary was initially fixed on Sunday, but to our greatest surprise we heard that the primary has been shifted to Tuesday. They said due to official reasons, they claimed administrative bottlenecks, but other states did their own.

“We have been waiting for them to tell us the next line of action. The next thing we heard, somebody, we don’t know how he came, what he did, what transpired, we heard he was declared winner of the primary election that he was unopposed.” Saleh vowed to challenge the outcome legally, saying, “We are going to take necessary legal action to make sure I fight for my right. I will not tolerate this because I have followed all the processes.”

Another aspirant, Monica Kaltho, said they were not officially informed or involved before Pantami’s emergence was announced. “We are not supposed to be hearing this or seeing it on social media. We are supposed to be notified, but we were not notified, which is wrong.

“Four of us as the gubernatorial aspirants, we are against it totally. We did not accept it. It’s not the right thing to do. The right thing is to follow the process. The way that we bought the forms, we were screened, we went to Abuja and we were not just screened, we were cleared,” she stated.

Kaltho also questioned Pantami’s participation in the PDP process. She noted that he had only just left the APC. “But the new one that just joined us, that’s two days back, he wasn’t a member. If he was, he wouldn’t have been in the APC gubernatorial candidate race. You cannot leave the party without declaring that you have resigned or you are decamping to PDP.

“It’s like coming through the window and it’s not accepted by law,” she said. Despite her complaints, Kaltho hoped the party leaders could fix the problem through talks. “We believe and trust the leadership of the party that they are going to do the right thing. The right thing may be inviting us for dialogue and come up with the right thing to follow to avoid all these rumours that are basically on social media,” she added.

Also speaking, aspirant Khamisu-Ahmed Mailantarki called the situation “a very sad situation.” He insisted that all the aspirants met the constitutional and electoral requirements before the process changed. “About four of us are contesting this post. We followed all the due diligence from the beginning. We bought forms, were screened properly and surprisingly, the primary that was supposed to hold on the 24th was shifted to the 26th,” he said.

Mailantarki said they welcomed Pantami into the PDP but were worried about when he joined the race. “We had a rumour that Professor Ali Isa Pantami is going to join the party. We welcome him because the party needs a lot of people to participate. But looking at the timeframe of him joining the party and in line with the process of nomination for aspirants contesting, it was too close. We don’t know what is happening,” he said.

In response to the complaints, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Gombe State, Abdulkadir Ahmad, defended Pantami’s emergence. He said he was aware of the grievances but insisted that everything was done properly. “All that Professor Isa did was in order. He obtained his membership registration in the party, purchased the nomination form, and was duly screened in Abuja. Everything he did followed the laid down procedures,” Ahmad stated.

On claims that Pantami participated in the APC governorship primary before moving to the PDP, Ahmad said Pantami announced his withdrawal from the APC race three days before the primary. “That withdrawal was announced on radio, social media and other conventional media platforms. Even if the APC later included his name in the results, that would not hold water because he had already made his position clear,” he added.

Ahmad did admit he was not sure if Pantami formally resigned from the APC before joining the PDP. “I may not know about his formal defection from the APC. What I know is that he duly registered with the PDP and obtained the party’s nomination form. If there were official documents regarding his resignation from the APC, maybe party officials handling that aspect would know better,” he said.

He added that any aggrieved aspirants could seek legal action. “Every individual is at liberty to seek redress in court if they feel aggrieved.” Pantami had last week withdrawn from the APC primary election over alleged irregularities before switching to the PDP, where he was confirmed by the chairman of the PDP Gombe electoral panel, Gregory Yenlong.