By TheDailyNewsHub Reporter
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has omitted former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, from its final list of candidates for the February 6, 2027, Gombe State governorship election, despite his emergence as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer in a fresh primary election.
The omission became public on Saturday, October 10, when INEC released its final list containing 16 governorship candidates and their running mates for the election. Pantami, who was included in the commission’s provisional list published on August 29, was absent from the final document. The PDP also has no candidate listed for the Gombe contest.
The development comes after months of legal disputes over the process through which Pantami secured the PDP ticket. The former minister initially sought the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but left the party in May after it settled on another aspirant. He subsequently joined the PDP and emerged as its candidate.
His initial nomination was challenged in court by a rival aspirant. A Federal High Court sitting in Gombe later nullified the earlier primary and ordered the party to conduct a fresh exercise. Pantami won the rerun held on September 29, placing him back in contention for the party’s ticket.
However, his return as the PDP candidate did not resolve all the questions surrounding his eligibility and the party’s compliance with electoral requirements.
A major legal development preceding INEC’s final list was the Supreme Court’s September 24 judgment restoring provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 concerning political party membership registers and candidate nomination procedures. The ruling reinstated Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2), which address the use and submission of party membership registers and the methods through which parties nominate candidates.
The restored provisions require political parties to comply with statutory requirements governing membership records and primaries. Section 77(7), in particular, provides a consequence for a party that fails to submit its membership register within the prescribed period.
Nevertheless, the legal position should not be reduced to an automatic personal disqualification of Pantami. A legal analysis of the Supreme Court judgment published by TheNigeriaLawyer explains that Section 77 does not, by itself, personally disqualify an individual party member simply because the party failed to submit its register; the statutory consequence concerns the party’s eligibility to field candidates. INEC has not publicly stated that this provision is the specific reason for Pantami’s omission.
The commission’s published list does not explain why Pantami and the PDP ticket are absent. It would therefore be premature to conclude that the omission resulted from a particular membership-register issue, the earlier court case or any other specific legal ground without further clarification from INEC or a relevant court decision.
Pantami’s camp has responded by urging supporters to remain calm while efforts are made to address the situation. In a statement dated October 10 and signed by Professor Suleiman Mohammed Gombe, the Pantamiyya Movement said its legal and liaison teams were engaging with the relevant party organs and INEC to seek a resolution within the period allowed by law.
The statement described the omission as a temporary challenge rather than a final determination of Pantami’s political future. That position represents the campaign’s assessment; the outcome will depend on the applicable electoral rules and any further action taken by the relevant authorities.
The absence of the PDP from the published Gombe list raises a broader question about the party’s participation in the forthcoming governorship election. The final list includes candidates from several other political parties, including the APC and the African Democratic Congress, but no PDP candidate appears among the 16 listed tickets.
The Gombe governorship election is scheduled for February 6, 2027. Until INEC provides an explanation or a competent court issues a relevant decision, the precise basis for the omission remains unclear. Pantami’s fresh-primary victory and his absence from the final list are established developments, but the final legal and electoral consequences are yet to be clarified.