Gombe PDP Governorship Ticket: Federal High Court Hears Primary Nomination Challenges

The Federal High Court in Gombe on Friday commenced proceedings in a series of pre-election lawsuits challenging the nomination of Professor Isa Pantami as the People's Democratic Party's (PDP) gubernatorial flagbearer for the 2027 general elections in Gombe State. Presiding over the matters, Justice Amina-Aliyu Mohammed, subsequently adjourned both cases until July 9, following requests from the respondents' legal teams for additional time to prepare and submit their defences.

These separate legal actions were initiated by two fellow PDP governorship aspirants, Khamis Mailantarki and Alhaji Hamma-Sale Abdulkadir, who are individually contesting Pantami's emergence as the party's candidate. The plaintiffs have named the PDP, Professor Pantami himself, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as defendants in their suits. Their core demand to the court is the nullification of Pantami's nomination, citing allegations that his selection as the party's candidate occurred without a legitimate primary election or a properly constituted consensus process.

Furthermore, the plaintiffs contend that Professor Pantami did not procure the PDP's nomination form nor did he partake in the party's screening exercise for governorship hopefuls. They also raised claims that Pantami was concurrently pursuing the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the same period and was reportedly not a card-carrying member of the PDP on the day the party purportedly adopted him via a consensus arrangement.

The legal representation for Mailantarki is B.A. Jatau, while S.A. Mustapha is representing Abdulkadir. On the side of the respondents, Mr. Benjamin Sati, Ibrahim Attahir, E.O. Akawu, and INEC's counsel, Mr. Ayuba Peter, are handling the defence. During the initial court session, Mr. Peter informed Justice Mohammed that the respondents had only recently received briefing from their clients and thus required more time to adequately prepare their counter-affidavits. He stated, "We have just been briefed by our clients and respectfully seek time to prepare and file our counter-affidavits." Granting this request, Justice Mohammed then rescheduled the cases for further hearing on July 9. While the plaintiffs were not present during the proceedings, some of the respondents, including Adamu Haruna, Hassan Mohammed Hassan, and Dr. Saidu Mohammed, were noted to be in court.