Former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party and emerged as the party’s governorship candidate in Gombe State ahead of the 2027 elections.
Pantami secured the PDP ticket through voice affirmation during the party’s governorship primary election held on Tuesday in Gombe.
Chairman of the PDP Electoral Panel, Hon. Gregory Yenlong, declared Pantami the sole aspirant and winner of the exercise.
Speaking shortly after his emergence, Pantami said his decision to contest was driven by a desire to serve the people of Gombe State.
He pledged to govern with fairness, justice and inclusiveness if elected governor in 2027.
Pantami will now face Jamilu Gwamna, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
Before his defection, Pantami had criticised the process that produced Gwamna as the APC consensus candidate.
He had initially opted to participate in the APC governorship primary but withdrew on the eve of the exercise, alleging lack of transparency in the process.
Following the APC primary, four PDP governorship aspirants raised concerns over what they described as attempts to “smuggle” Pantami into the PDP governorship race.
The aspirants — Alhaji Abdulkadir Hamma Saleh, Hon. Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, Hon. Usman Aliyu Garry and Mrs Monica Kaltho — argued that electoral laws did not permit a candidate who had already participated in another party’s primary election to switch parties and contest the same process again.
In a communiqué issued after an emergency meeting in Gombe on Sunday, the aspirants stated that while they welcomed new entrants into the PDP, they opposed the involvement of any individual who had allegedly participated in another party’s governorship primary.
Despite the objections, PDP stakeholders in the state endorsed Pantami as the party’s flag bearer for the 2027 governorship election.
