The media aide to Professor Isa-Ali Pantami, Mohammed Umar, has said his principal remains eligible to contest the Peoples Democratic Party governorship primary in Gombe State, following what he described as the court’s validation of Pantami’s membership of the party.
Umar said Pantami’s defection from the All Progressives Congress to the PDP was validated by the Federal High Court No. 1 sitting in Gombe, insisting that the judgment did not invalidate his party membership.
“God willing, yes, of course. The court has given him this opportunity. He is one of those that are going to contest for the primary,” Umar said when asked whether Pantami would participate in the fresh primary ordered by the court.
The aide’s position followed Thursday’s judgement by Justice Amina-Aliyu Mohammed, which nullified Pantami’s emergence as the PDP governorship candidate and ordered the party to conduct a fresh primary election.
He made this disclosure in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Gombe.
Umar said, “One more important thing is that his party membership is not invalidated. The court validated his defection from APC to PDP.”
He also dismissed reports that Pantami’s membership of the PDP had been invalidated, saying the legal team had applied for a copy of the judgment to establish the full details of the ruling.
“No, they are lying. We have applied for a copy of the case. We are expecting it tomorrow because they said it is not available today,” he said.
The suit was filed by Usman-Aliyu Garry, who challenged the process through which Pantami emerged as the PDP candidate for the 2027 governorship election.
Garry had argued that the PDP failed to conduct a valid governorship primary before announcing Pantami as its candidate on June 26, 2026, and contended that the party’s adoption of the former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy contravened its guidelines and applicable electoral laws.
Delivering judgment, Justice Mohammed ordered the PDP to conduct a fresh governorship primary in compliance with its guidelines and relevant electoral laws.
The ruling effectively nullified Pantami’s emergence through the earlier process and reopened the contest for the PDP governorship ticket.
However, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mustapha Usman, who said he was present in court when the judgment was delivered, gave a different interpretation of the ruling.
Usman said the court invalidated Pantami’s PDP membership card because he registered with the party after the deadline for membership registration prescribed by the Electoral Act.
“I was there. The judge said the Nigerian Constitution and Electoral Act supersede the party constitution,” Usman said.
He added, “The Electoral Act 2023 said that the parties should close their membership registration on May 10, while he registered with the party on May 19. That is what the judge is saying this morning.”
According to Usman, the court consequently invalidated Pantami’s membership card and directed the PDP to conduct a fresh governorship primary among aspirants who met the legal requirements.
“She nullified his primaries and gave fresh directives that PDP should go and conduct primaries with the legal candidates they have, those that could fill the requirement,” he said.
Asked whether Pantami could participate in the fresh exercise, Usman said, “Without him. Since she invalidated his membership, it is without him.”
He further argued that Pantami’s participation in another primary could expose the PDP to another legal challenge.
“Even if he contests again, they will go back to court and the same will come out,” he said.
