2027 Election: Isa Pantami Takes Gombe PDP Governorship Ticket in Rerun Primary

By Chukwuebuka Amadi 30 September 2026, 10:38

GOMBE, NIGERIA—Former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Pantami, has officially been declared the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for Gombe State ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Pantami reclaimed a decisive victory during Tuesday’s court-ordered fresh primary election, routing his opponents in an exercise conducted across all 11 local government areas of the state.

Announcing the results at the PDP State Secretariat in Gombe, the Chairman of the Governorship Primary Election Committee, Johnbull Tiemlong Shekarau, confirmed that 2,555 accredited delegates participated in the direct primary.

Pantami won by a landslide, polling 2,054 votes. His rivals, Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, finished second with 389 votes, while Aliyu Usman Garry finished third with 112 votes.

“Having scored the highest number of votes cast, Isa Ali Pantami is hereby declared the winner and the flagbearer of the PDP for the 2027 Gombe State governorship election,” Shekarau announced.

The fresh primary election followed a Federal High Court judgment delivered on September 24, 2026. Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed had nullified Pantami’s original May 2026 victory—which was decided via voice affirmation—ruling that the process excluded legitimate aspirants and failed to comply with internal party guidelines and electoral laws.

The court subsequently gave the PDP a strict 30-day window to organize a valid election.
Pantami, who defected to the PDP earlier in 2026 after missing out on the All Progressives Congress (APC) consensus ticket, has now successfully legitimized his candidacy through a comprehensive ballot process.

Despite the clear numbers, the exercise has already sparked new friction within the opposition party.
Following the announcement, runner-up Khamisu Mailantarki declared himself the rightful winner to reporters, insisting that Pantami was ineligible to participate in the rerun.

Mailantarki argued that the former minister’s votes should be treated as invalid, suggesting that the legal battles over the Gombe PDP ticket may not be fully resolved.