Pantami’s Lawyers Give INEC Wednesday Deadline To Publish His Name On Gombe Governorship List

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The legal team of Isa Pantami, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Gombe State, has given the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) until Wednesday, October 14, to include his name in the final list of candidates for the 2027 governorship election.

The lawyers made the demand in a letter dated October 12 and addressed to INEC Chairman, Joash Amupitan. The letter was signed by Ahmed Raji, A.T. Kehinde, Abdul Mohammed, Wale Balogun and Tunde Falola.

They challenged the omission of Pantami’s name and that of his running mate from the final list published by the electoral commission on Saturday, October 10.

The lawyers argued that “the removal of a nominated candidate’s name is exclusively a judicial act”, adding that INEC’s role in primaries is to attend, observe, monitor and report, “not to disqualify, and not to cherry-pick”.

INEC published the names of 16 governorship candidates for Gombe State but did not include Pantami, who emerged as the PDP candidate following a fresh primary election. The commission also omitted Ladi Adebutu, the PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State, without stating its reasons.

Pantami, a former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, was declared the winner of the PDP’s fresh governorship primary conducted across the 11 local government areas of Gombe State on September 29.

Lawyers Cite Court Order, Electoral Act

In their letter, the lawyers maintained that Pantami was a duly registered PDP member whose name appeared in the party’s membership register submitted to INEC.

They said the party submitted his personal particulars through Form EC9 on August 8, 2026, after he won the initial primary held on May 26. INEC subsequently published his name on August 29.

“The PDP submitted his personal particulars (Form EC9) to the Commission on the 8th day of August, 2026 pursuant to Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, and the Commission published his name on the 29th day of August, 2026 pursuant to Section 29(3) of the Act,” the letter reads.

“Up to this point, no step was taken by the Commission to question any aspect of his emergence.”

According to the legal team, the initial primary was challenged in two cases, marked FHC/GM/CS/10/2026 and FHC/GM/CS/9/2026, before the Federal High Court in Gombe.

The court, in a judgment delivered on September 24, nullified the primary and ordered the PDP to conduct a fresh governorship primary.

The lawyers said the party complied with the order and notified INEC before conducting the new exercise on September 29.

“In compliance with the Court Order, the PDP gave the Commission due notice of the court-ordered primary, and conducted the fresh gubernatorial primary election on Tuesday, the 29th day of September, 2026,” the lawyers said.

“At the conclusion of that exercise, Isa Ali Ibrahim emerged the winner, and his name was again submitted to the Commission as the nominated candidate of the PDP.”

Citing legal precedents, the lawyers argued that INEC could not remove a nominated candidate from the list without a judicial order.

They therefore demanded that the commission publish Pantami’s name by Wednesday, October 14, alongside the other candidates already listed for the election.

“In the circumstances, we have our Client’s firm and unequivocal instructions to demand, and we hereby demand that the Commission, on or before Wednesday the 14th day of October, 2026, publish and circulate the name of Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the office of Governor of Gombe State in the 2027 general elections, in the same manner and with the same prominence as the names of all other candidates published on the 10th day of October, 2026,” the lawyers stated.

The legal team expressed confidence that INEC would take what it described as “immediate corrective action” and provide written confirmation of the steps taken to resolve the matter.