By Suleiman Anyalewechi
Former Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has emerged the Gombe State Peoples Democratic party, PDP’s gubernatorial candidate for the 2027 general elections.
His emergence is coming six days after his resignation as a member of the All Progressive Congress, APC.
His defection from the APC was preceded by his sudden decision to withdraw from the party’s Governorship primary which he alleged was heavily manipulated and compromised.
In a statement announcing his withdrawal on May 20, 2026, Pantami, who served as a Minister under the administration of the late President Mohammadu Buhari cited alleged breaches of both the provisions of the 2026 Electoral Act and the APC guidelines as major reasons for his action.
He expressed serious concern over what he described as a gross violation of due process in the handling of the APC primaries in Gombe’s State.
However, not a few were of the strong belief that his decision to withdraw from the APC primaries ,as well from the party ,was a direct fall out of the Gombe State Governor’s controversial endorsement of a successor, Dr Jamil Isyaku Gwamna.
The endorsement meant that other aspirants, including Pantami had no chance of realizing their gubernatorial ambition on the APC platform, hence his decision to join forces with the PDP.
“The process has become unsafe and illegitimate” Pantami had then protested.
But his defection to the PDP was not well received by a section of his political organization, the Pantamiyya Movement, which has since pledged its allegiance to Dr Gwamna, the Gombe Governor’s preferred choice, and the APC Governorship candidate for Gombe state.
According to Sanusi Hamisu Usman, the leader of the factional Pantamiyya Movement, the decision to endorse Dr Gwamna and also not to follow Prof Pantami to the PDP, was arrived at after much consultations across the structure.
He emphasized that the decision has the backing of over 100 field coordinators of the Movement spread across all the wards in the eleven local councils that make up Gombe state.
He further cited the growing level of Gwamna’s acceptability within the ranks of the APC as another compelling reason for the Movement’s decision to support his ambition.
Prof Pantami, who emerged on Tuesday, May 26, as the PDP Governorship candidate, through a voice vote by stakeholders and members said his ambition is only driven by service to the people of Gombe state.
This was as he pledged to govern with the fear of God and fairness if elected as the Governor of the State.
Instructively, Pantami was the only aspirant that participated in the PDP selection process on the day.
Four other gubernatorial aspirants had, earlier, on Sunday May 24, vehemently the attempt to smuggle Pantami into the PDP primaries after exiting his original political platform,the APC.
The aspirants namely Abdulkadir Hamma Saleh, Hon Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki , Usman Aliyu Garry and Monica Kaltho had in a statement, warned against a development that could spark a chain of litigations and, in the process, undermine the integrity of the party’s internal processes.
“We 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”, the aspirants stated.
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