Former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, has won the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s fresh governorship primary in Gombe State, securing the party’s ticket for the 2027 election for a second time.
Pantami polled 2,054 votes in the direct primary conducted across Gombe’s 11 local government areas, defeating Khamisu Mailantarki, who scored 389 votes, and Aliyu Usman Garry, who received 112 votes.
The result was announced at the PDP state secretariat in Gombe by the Chairman of the Governorship Primary Rerun Committee, Johnbull Shekarau.
The fresh exercise became necessary after the Federal High Court in Gombe nullified Pantami’s earlier emergence and ordered the PDP to conduct another primary within 30 days. Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed delivered the judgment on September 24 following legal challenges by Mailantarki and Garry.
The court held that the earlier process did not comply with the PDP’s internal procedures and applicable electoral provisions. Pantami had initially secured the party’s nomination through a voice affirmation at the May 26 primary.
The court, however, did not grant the plaintiffs’ request to remove Pantami from the PDP over allegations concerning his previous membership of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The ruling instead focused on the conduct of the primary and directed the party to repeat the exercise.
That ruling set the stage for Tuesday’s contest, with the PDP clearing Pantami, Mailantarki and Garry to participate. The party subsequently scheduled the new primary for September 29 across the state’s 114 wards.
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Pantami’s political journey to the PDP ticket has itself been unusually compressed. He initially sought the APC governorship nomination in Gombe but left the contest after the party settled on Jamilu Gwamna as its consensus candidate. He later joined the PDP and secured its ticket at the May primary.
His first nomination was then challenged in court, creating a legal interruption that forced the opposition party to repeat the exercise.
Tuesday’s result gives Pantami another mandate from the PDP membership after that judicial setback. It also places Mailantarki and Garry in the position of having contested a second primary against the former minister after challenging the earlier process in court.
The numbers from the rerun show a clear gap in the voting figures: Pantami’s 2,054 votes were more than five times Mailantarki’s 389 and nearly 18 times Garry’s 112.
However, the figures should be read as the outcome of a party primary, not the result of the 2027 governorship election. The exercise determines whom the PDP will put forward; the general election will involve candidates from other political parties and eligible voters across Gombe State.
The fresh primary also carries a legal significance beyond the final tally. The earlier nomination was struck down because of procedural questions. The PDP has now conducted another exercise after the court-directed reset, meaning the party’s compliance with its rules and the applicable electoral framework will remain relevant to the validity of the nomination.
The rerun therefore closes one chapter of the PDP’s Gombe ticket dispute while opening another phase of the 2027 contest.
As for Pantami, the immediate outcome is a restored PDP nomination secured through a fresh vote. For the party, it is a second attempt at producing a governorship candidate after its first process ended in litigation.
The next stage will be the formal nomination process and the wider 2027 campaign, where Pantami will face candidates produced by other parties.
As it stands now, the Gombe PDP ticket belongs to Pantami again, this time after a court-ordered fresh primary in which he defeated Mailantarki and Garry with 2,054 votes.
