- MURIC held a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday, accusing INEC of deliberately excluding Pantami from Gombe's governorship candidate list
- The Islamic rights group alleged that INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan bore personal responsibility for the omission due to religious bias
- MURIC called on President Tinubu to remove the INEC chairman and appoint a religiously neutral replacement
Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over eight years of experience covering metro, government policy, and international issues
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has condemned the exclusion of Prof. Ibrahim Isa Ali Pantami from the Independent National Electoral Commission's list of Gombe State governorship candidates, calling it an act of impunity and a contempt of court.
Legit.ng reports that INEC dropped Pantami from the final list of governorship candidates for Gombe State despite him winning a fresh primary.
Source: Facebook
MURIC Founder and Executive Director Prof. Ishaq Akintola alleged that INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan was personally responsible for the omission, which the group described as religiously motivated.
As reported by Vanguard, Akintola stated this while speaking at a press conference in Lagos on Tuesday, October 13, 206
How Pantami's candidacy unfolded
Pantami was the sole PDP governorship aspirant in Gombe as of May 2026 and was affirmed by voice vote on May 26, 2026, at a primary chaired by the party's state electoral committee chairman, Gregory Yenlong.
A Federal High Court later nullified that primary and ordered a fresh one. The re-run, held on September 29, 2026, saw Pantami win decisively with 2,054 votes, ahead of Khamisu Mailantarki, who scored 389 votes and Aliyu Garry, who scored 112 votes.
MURIC said INEC monitored the fresh primary through a team led by Mr Gambo Umar Arabi, who signed and submitted an official report, raising questions about the commission's grounds for subsequently disowning the outcome.
"On what ground is INEC disowning a process it was part of? The presence of INEC at the PDP primary which produced Pantami proves beyond any reasonable doubt that both Pantami and his party went through due process," Akintola said.
MURIC's allegations against INEC chairman
The group drew attention to the fact that several Christian clerics currently serve as state governors, including Pastor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom, Apostle Bassey Otu of Cross River, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia of Benue, and Pastor Agbu Kefas of Taraba, and asked why an Islamic scholar should face barriers to contesting for the same office.
"We put it to INEC that its chairman has a 'Candidate of Special Concern' and it is no other than Professor Isa Ali Pantami," Akintola said.
The group also referenced Amupitan's past legal work, alleging that he had prepared an 80-page brief containing what MURIC described as falsehoods about Nigerian Muslims that informed a United States classification of Nigeria as a country of special concern.
MURIC argued that someone with that record could not be a fair electoral umpire.
Akintola noted that it had previously objected to Amupitan's appointment, alongside the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, and said recent events had vindicated that position.
The group passed a vote of no confidence in the INEC chairman and urged President Tinubu to appoint a replacement it described as detribalised and religiously neutral.
"MURIC demands the immediate reinstatement of the name of Professor Ibrahim Isa Ali Pantami as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Gombe State," Akintola said.
MURIC described itself as a non-partisan Islamic human rights organisation focused on protecting the fundamental rights of Nigerian Muslims regardless of their political affiliations.
Source: Twitter
Pantami gives INEC 3-day ultimatum
Meanwhile, Legit.ng also reported that Pantami issued a three-day ultimatum to INEC after his name was left off the final 2027 Gombe governorship candidates list.
Pantami's lawyers said he won a fresh PDP primary on September 29, 2026, monitored by INEC officials, after a court ordered the party to rerun.
INEC published the final list on October 10, 2026, without including Pantami's name and gave no reason for the omission.
Source: Legit.ng