Nigeria’s Gombe Candidate List Fight Over Pantami Explained

NIGERIA · ELECTIONS

Isa Ali Pantami’s lawyers gave Nigeria’s electoral commission until Wednesday, 14 October, to put him back on the Gombe candidate list. Pantami, a former communications minister, is the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s nominee for governor of Gombe State in the north-east.

The fight tests how far the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may go in policing party primaries. It comes three months before Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, elects a president on 16 January 2027.

Why Pantami Is Missing From the Gombe Candidate List

INEC published the final Gombe candidate list on Saturday, 10 October, with 16 names for governor. Pantami and his running mate were left out, and the commission gave no reason, TheCable reported.

Pantami runs for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which governed Nigeria from 1999 to 2015 and is now in opposition. His omission left the PDP with no candidate on the final Gombe list.

His trouble began with the PDP primary of 26 May, which he won. Rival aspirants then challenged it in two suits at the Federal High Court in Gombe.

On 24 September the court annulled that primary over how it was run and ordered a fresh one within 30 days, Daily Trust reported. According to his lawyers, the same judgments rejected the claim that Pantami was not a PDP member.

They quote the court as saying his absence from one exhibit did not prove he was outside the party. He won the rerun on 29 September, which the lawyers say INEC officials observed.

What the Lawyers’ Letter Demands by Wednesday

The letter, dated 12 October, went to INEC chairman Joash Amupitan, a professor who heads the commission. It was signed by a team led by Ahmed Raji, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the country’s top rank for lawyers.

It asks INEC to publish Pantami’s name by Wednesday, 14 October, “in the same manner and with the same prominence” as the other candidates. Daily Trust called it a three-day ultimatum.

The lawyers argue that removing a nominated candidate is “exclusively a judicial act”. In their reading, INEC observes and reports on primaries but cannot disqualify anyone.

The Hausa-language newspaper Aminiya reported that the lawyers read the court order as covering only the annulled May primary. The 29 September rerun, they say, was held on the court’s own order.

How Candidate Lists and Court Orders Work

Under section 29 of Nigeria’s Electoral Act 2026, parties file each nominee’s personal details with INEC on a form known as EC9. INEC must publish them in the constituency within 21 days.

The PDP filed Pantami’s form on 8 August, and INEC published his name on 29 August, TheCable and Daily Trust reported. The final list under section 32 is the later step, due at least 60 days before the vote.

Section 32(2) gives a party whose candidate is missing 14 days after publication to notify INEC in writing. The notice must be signed by its national chairman and secretary and backed by an affidavit.

ThisDay has linked the omissions to a Supreme Court ruling upholding section 77, the party membership-register rule. Under it, only members on a register filed with INEC at least 21 days before a primary may run in it.

Courts, not INEC, settle disputes over primaries and the Gombe candidate list, Pantami’s lawyers argue. INEC has not said which rule, if any, it applied in his case.

Gombe is not the only gap. Ladi Adebutu, the PDP nominee in Ogun State in the south-west, is also missing from his state’s final list without explanation, TheCable reported.

Questions Over INEC’s Redeployment of Directors

On Tuesday, 13 October, Daily Trust reported a separate row over INEC. Isah Magaji Gummi, director of electoral operations, has moved to the voter registry department.

Oluyemi Titilayo Adeyemi-Showunmi, until now INEC’s administrative secretary in Lagos, takes over electoral operations, the paper said. That department coordinates election logistics.

Paul Ibe, spokesman for presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC), asked Amupitan to explain the moves. He questioned whether key posts now favour the south-west, President Bola Tinubu’s home region.

Ibe asked whether the appointments respect “the federal character principle”, the constitutional rule that spreads public posts across Nigeria’s states. An INEC official, speaking without being named, called them “routine postings done for administrative purpose” but said they were not exactly as reported.

No report links the postings to the Gombe candidate list. Both, however, put INEC’s decisions under scrutiny weeks before the vote.

What Prediction Markets Say

On Polymarket, bets on who will win the Gombe governorship total about US$16,600. Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Tinubu’s party, is priced at 58.5% (13 October, 4:58 a.m. ET).

No bets on that market changed hands in the 24 hours before that reading, a sign of thin trading.

Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.

What It Means for US Readers

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, and its 2027 elections will shape policy for US investors, lenders and diplomats.

Fights over who may stand often move into the courts, as this one already has. How INEC handles the Gombe candidate list is an early test of the referee under Amupitan.

What Is Not Known

INEC has not said why Pantami is off the Gombe candidate list, or whether it will act by Wednesday. It had also not answered Daily Trust’s questions on the separate postings.

The letter sets out no next step if the deadline passes. The lawyers say they are “optimistic” INEC will take “immediate corrective action”.

Under section 285(9) of the constitution, any pre-election suit must be filed within 14 days of the act complained of.

It is also unclear whether the PDP has filed the section 32(2) notice, or whether INEC applied the membership-register rule to Pantami.

More on this story: Who Is Isa Ali Pantami, Nigeria's Disputed Gombe Candidate.

More: Nigeria news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Isa Ali Pantami?

He is a former Nigerian minister of communications and digital economy. He is now the PDP’s nominee for governor of Gombe State after winning a court-ordered rerun of the party primary on 29 September 2026.

Why is Pantami not on the Gombe candidate list?

INEC has not given a reason. A federal court annulled his first primary on 24 September, and he won the rerun on 29 September. His lawyers say the PDP reported the result to INEC.

What deadline did his lawyers set?

They asked INEC to add his name to the Gombe candidate list on or before Wednesday, 14 October 2026. Daily Trust described the 12 October letter as a three-day ultimatum.

When does Gombe vote for governor?

INEC’s calendar sets governorship and state assembly elections for Saturday, 6 February 2027. The presidential election comes first, on Saturday, 16 January 2027.

Sources: INEC, final list of candidates, Gombe governorship election, 10 October 2026; INEC, Electoral Act 2026, 2026; INEC election calendar, 13 October 2026; TheCable, 12 October 2026; Aminiya, 12 October 2026; Daily Trust, 13 October 2026; Daily Trust, 13 October 2026; ThisDay, 11 October 2026; ThisDay, 13 February 2024.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief