BREAKING: Tension in Gombe PDP as Aspirants Resist Alleged Pantami Primary Plot

According to a report by DAILY POST on Monday 25th May 2026, a fresh crisis may be brewing within the Gombe State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after four governorship aspirants rejected an alleged attempt to bring former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, into the party’s governorship race ahead of the 2027 elections.

The aspirants — Alhaji Abdulkadir Hamma Saleh, Hon. Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki, Hon. Usman Aliyu Garry and Mrs. Monica Kaltho — voiced their opposition in a communiqué released after an emergency meeting in Gombe on Sunday.

They claimed there were plans to allow Pantami, who reportedly participated in the governorship primary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to join the PDP contest despite already taking part in another party’s selection process.

According to the aspirants, such a move would contradict democratic principles and could drag the PDP into unnecessary legal battles.

The communiqué stated that Pantami’s alleged defection into the PDP for the purpose of contesting the governorship primary was unacceptable, stressing that the Electoral Act does not permit an aspirant to contest primaries in two different political parties within the same election cycle.

The group warned that any attempt to include him in the PDP governorship process could provoke lawsuits from party members and political opponents.

They maintained that although the PDP welcomes new entrants, individuals who had already participated in another party’s governorship primary should not be allowed into the party’s ongoing gubernatorial exercise.

The aspirants also announced that they had agreed to support a consensus arrangement that would allow the PDP leadership in the state to select one among them as the party’s candidate for the 2027 governorship election.

They said the decision was made in recognition of the leadership of former Gombe State governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, as well as the party structure and elders across the state.