GOMBE, Nigeria – The Federal High Court sitting in Gombe has nullified the nomination of former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2027 general elections in Gombe State, judicial and political correspondents confirmed in Gombe on Thursday, September 24, 2026.
Delivering judgment in a contentious pre-election suit on Thursday morning, the presiding judge, Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed, declared the voice-affirmation primary that produced Pantami defective and ordered the National Working Committee of the PDP to conduct a fresh, transparent governorship primary election in strict compliance with the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act 2022.
Okay News reports that the judgment follows an originating summons instituted by an aggrieved PDP governorship aspirant, Usman Aliyu Garry, who challenged the validity of the primary election conducted on May 26, 2026, which culminated in the party formally declaring Pantami as its sole consensus standard-bearer on June 26, 2026.
Garry approached the court seeking an order of nullification on the grounds that the party sidestepped statutory primary procedures and disenfranchised cleared aspirants by coronating Pantami through a voice vote, arguing that no valid, competitive nomination exercise took place as required by the statutory guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Pantami, a former federal cabinet minister under the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari, originally declared his gubernatorial ambition on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress before abruptly defecting to the opposition PDP in May after the APC leadership selected Jamilu Isiyaku Gwamna as its consensus candidate.
His immediate entry into the opposition party triggered intense friction among legacy PDP governorship aspirants—including Garry, former member of the House of Representatives Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, and Abdulkadir Hamma Saleh—who contended that allowing an aspirant who participated in another political party’s nomination process within the same electoral cycle undermined internal party cohesion.
In her considered ruling, Justice Mohammed held that political parties are bound by the provisions of their own constitutions, approved electoral guidelines, and the provisions of Section 84 of the Electoral Act, emphasizing that consensus or affirmation arrangements must strictly respect the rights of all duly cleared aspirants who have not voluntarily withdrawn from the race.
The court held that the PDP leadership acted ultra vires by imposing a sole candidate through affirmation without the written withdrawal and consent of other contestants, thereby rendering the nomination process void ab initio.
Justice Mohammed subsequently ordered the PDP to convene a fresh, open primary election allowing all eligible aspirants to participate in accordance with the law, while barring Pantami from parading himself as the party’s governorship candidate pending the conduct of a valid primary.
Counsel to the plaintiff, Eko Ejembi Eko, SAN, commended the ruling as a victory for the rule of law and internal party democracy, while legal representatives for Pantami and the PDP indicated that they are reviewing the certified true copy of the judgment to evaluate grounds for an immediate appeal at the Court of Appeal.
