The governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State have rejected what they described as an alleged attempt to “smuggle” former APC governorship aspirant, Prof. Isa Pantami, into the party’s ongoing governorship primaries.
In a communiqué issued on Sunday, the aspirants said Prof. Pantami, who participated in the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary held on May 21, 2026, cannot lawfully defect to the PDP and seek to participate in another governorship primary for the same election cycle.
The communiqué was jointly signed by Alhaji Abdulkadir-Hamma Saleh, Hon. Khamisu-Ahmed Mailantarki, Usman-Aliyu Garry, and Monica Kaltho.
Our correspondent recall that this coming days after Pantami withdraw from All Progressives Congress governorship primaries.
He had alleged irregularities from previous primary election as basis for withdrawing.
The aspirants disclosed that, in the interest of party unity and cohesion, they had unanimously agreed to allow the leadership of the PDP in Gombe State to select one consensus candidate among them for the 2027 governorship election.
According to them, the agreement was reached “in respect and deference to the leadership of our great party,” particularly the leader of the PDP in the state, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, alongside the State Executive Committee, the 11 Local Government Chairmen, and the Elders Committee.
The communiqué stated that the aspirants had already signed a written undertaking committing themselves to abide by the decision of the party leadership.
“We therefore condemn in the strongest terms the alleged attempt to smuggle into the PDP primaries an aspirant who, by law and established democratic principles, is ineligible to participate, having already contested in the APC governorship primaries held on 21st May, 2026,” the statement read.
The aspirants stressed that “the law does not permit a candidate to defect from one political party to another and subsequently contest the same election process after votes have already been cast and counted in his favour in another party’s primaries.”
While noting that the PDP remains open to welcoming new members, they insisted that such individuals should not be allowed to participate in a primary process that is already at an advanced stage.
“We strongly object to any attempt to involve such a person in the ongoing PDP gubernatorial primaries,” they declared.
The aspirants further warned the party leadership against actions capable of exposing the PDP to avoidable legal disputes.
“We therefore call on the leadership of the party to be properly guided and to desist from promoting any action capable of undermining the rule of law or exposing the party to avoidable litigation,” the communiqué added.
They warned that any violation of due process could result in “serious legal challenges from concerned party members and even opposition parties.”
The statement ended with the cautionary note: “As the saying goes, a stitch in time saves nine.”