The former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has formally defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and successfully secured the party’s governorship ticket.
He emerged victorious via a voice affirmation process during a primary election conducted on Tuesday in Gombe.
He was officially declared as the sole aspirant by Hon. Gregory Yenlong, the Chairman of the PDP Electoral Panel.
Speaking immediately after his declaration as the winner, Pantami stated that his entry into the race was driven by a desire to offer genuine service to the people of the state.
He further pledged that if elected into office in 2027, he would govern with absolute fairness and justice.
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With this development, Pantami is now set to face off against Jamilu Gwamna, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gombe State.
Prior to his defection, Pantami had strongly protested the internal processes that led to Gwamna emerging as the consensus candidate for the APC.
Although Pantami had insisted on a direct primary election, he ultimately pulled out of the APC race on the eve of the exercise, citing a severe lack of transparency.
Following those events, four PDP governorship aspirants had raised an alarm over what they described as a calculated attempt to smuggle Pantami into the PDP gubernatorial race.
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In a joint communique issued after an emergency meeting on Sunday in Gombe, the aspirants—Alhaji Abdulkadir Hamma Saleh, Hon. Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, Hon. Usman Aliyu Garry, and Mrs. Monica Kaltho—argued that the law did not permit a candidate to defect from one political party to another and subsequently contest the same election process after votes have already been cast and counted in his favour in another party’s primaries.
The aspirants noted that while they welcomed any well-meaning individual looking to join the PDP ranks, they strongly objected to any backdoor arrangements involving a person who had already participated in the primary process of a rival party.
Despite their stiff opposition, PDP stakeholders went ahead on Tuesday to select Pantami as the flagbearer to lead the party into the upcoming election.
