A governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State, Abdulkadir-Hamma Saleh, has petitioned the party’s Governorship Appeals Panel over what he described as his wrongful exclusion from the party’s governorship primary election.
In a letter dated May 27, 2026, and addressed to the Chairman of the PDP Governorship Appeals Panel in Gombe, Saleh stated that he was duly screened and cleared by the screening committee headed by former Kaduna State Governor, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, to participate in the exercise.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚋𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝙶𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚎.
Isa 𝙿𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚖𝚒 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚢 Chairman of the PDP Gombe Electoral Panel, Gregory 𝚈𝚎𝚗𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚢’𝚜 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚏 2027 𝚐𝚞𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚕.
According 𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚑, despite being cleared, he was neither invited nor notified about the conduct of the primary election initially scheduled for May 24, 2026, and later rescheduled to May 26, 2026.
“I was screened and cleared by the committee headed by Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi to participate in the primary election, but I was never invited or notified of the conduct of the primary election or its rescheduling to May 26, 2026,” he stated.
Saleh further alleged that he only became aware of the exercise through social media while at his residence in Gombe State.
“On May 26, 2026, while I was in my house in Gombe State, I saw on social media that Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who was allegedly the sole aspirant, had been declared the winner and candidate of the PDP,” he said.
He also questioned Pantami’s participation in the PDP primary, alleging that the former minister had earlier contested in the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), where he emerged runner-up.
The aspirant appealed to the panel to investigate what he described as “a kangaroo arrangement” and “a caricature of an election.”
“I hereby appeal to your panel to look into my complaint with a view to addressing the kangaroo arrangement that took place on May 26, 2026, which is a caricature of an election,” he added.
Saleh expressed confidence that the appeals panel would ensure fairness and justice in resolving the matter.