Some governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party in Gombe State have rejected the emergence of former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa-Ali Pantami, as the party’s governorship candidate, alleging that due process was not followed in the exercise that produced him as the flagbearer.
The aggrieved aspirants, who spoke separately on Tuesday, accused the party leadership of sidelining aspirants who had earlier purchased nomination forms, undergone screening and were cleared for the primary election.
One of the aspirants, Abdulkadir Saleh, said he fulfilled all requirements laid down by the party before the process was allegedly altered.
“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 was handled, saying, “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 through legal means, 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 the aspirants were neither officially informed nor carried along 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 the legitimacy of Pantami’s participation in the PDP process, noting that he had only recently defected from 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 grievances, Kaltho expressed hope that the party leadership could resolve the crisis through dialogue.
“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 described the development as “a very sad situation” and insisted that all the aspirants complied with 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 the aspirants welcomed Pantami into the PDP but expressed concerns over the timing of his entry into 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.
Reacting to the complaints, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Gombe State, Abdulkadir Ahmad, defended Pantami’s emergence, saying he was aware of the grievances raised by some of the aspirants but insisted that everything was done in order.
“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 allegations that Pantami participated in the APC governorship primary before defecting to the PDP, Ahmad said Pantami had publicly 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.
However, Ahmad admitted uncertainty over whether Pantami formally resigned his APC membership 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 aggrieved aspirants were free to pursue legal redress, saying, “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 affirmed by the chairman of the PDP Gombe electoral panel, Gregory Yenlong.
