Pantami wins PDP Gombe governorship primary rerun

* Former minister defeats two challengers in fresh primary

Pantami polled 2,054 votes to defeat Khamisu Mailantarki and Aliyu Garry, who scored 389 and 112 votes, respectively, in the direct primary conducted across the 11 local government areas of the state.

Former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Pantami, has emerged the winner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary rerun in Gombe State.

Pantami polled 2,054 votes to defeat Khamisu Mailantarki and Aliyu Garry, who scored 389 and 112 votes, respectively, in the direct primary conducted across the 11 local government areas of the state.

The results were collated and announced at the PDP state secretariat in Gombe by the Chairman of the Governorship Primary Rerun Committee, Johnbull Shekarau, who declared Pantami the winner.

The fresh primary was conducted following a Federal High Court judgment which nullified the earlier process that produced Pantami as the PDP’s governorship candidate for the 2027 election and ordered the party to conduct another primary.

Justice Amina Aliyu, in the judgment delivered on September 24, 2026, directed the PDP to conduct a fresh governorship primary within 30 days.

The court held that the earlier primary failed to comply with the party’s internal regulations and relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.

The judgment followed suits filed by PDP governorship aspirants, Khamisu Mailantarki and Aliyu Usman Garry, challenging the process that led to Pantami’s emergence at the party’s initial primary on May 26, 2026.

The court also declined a request to disqualify Pantami or remove him as a PDP member over allegations that he remained a card-carrying member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the time.

Following the judgment, the PDP scheduled the fresh primary for September 29 and cleared Pantami, Mailantarki and Garry to participate in the exercise.

Pantami had initially emerged as the PDP’s governorship candidate through voice affirmation at the party’s May 2026 primary before the process was challenged in court.

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