INEC Excludes Pantami’s Name From Governorship Candidates’ List

Pantami’s absence means INEC’s published candidate list does not currently recognise him as the PDP’s listed candidate for the 2027 Gombe governorship election. This matters because the list is the official record released by the electoral commission, while Pantami’s victory in the party’s rerun primary alone has not placed his name on it.

Pantami won the September 29 rerun with 2,054 votes. However, Mailantarki challenged his eligibility, claiming Pantami joined the PDP after the May 10 deadline for submitting the party register to INEC. Pantami’s defection letter from the APC was dated May 19, 2026.

The article does not state that Pantami is permanently disqualified. His campaign organisation called the omission a “temporary challenge” and said legal and liaison teams were working with the PDP and INEC. Until a correction is made, the PDP’s representation in the race remains uncertain.

Pantami received 2,054 votes in the PDP’s court-ordered rerun governorship primary in Gombe State. That result gave him a commanding lead over the other named aspirants and made him the apparent winner of the repeat contest.

Khamisu Mailantarki, his closest rival, received 389 votes. Aliyu Garry came third with 112 votes. Pantami therefore led Mailantarki by 1,665 votes and received more than five times Mailantarki’s total. The primary used the direct primary model across polling units in the state.

The numerical victory did not settle the dispute. Mailantarki rejected the result and challenged Pantami’s eligibility, while Garry also rejected the process and promised legal action. INEC’s later published list omitted Pantami, leaving the political and legal effect of the primary unresolved.

Mailantarki challenged Pantami’s eligibility rather than accepting the rerun result. He argued that Pantami’s 2,054 votes should be cancelled because Pantami allegedly joined the PDP after the deadline for submitting the official party register to INEC.

The dispute centres on May 10. Mailantarki said that date was the cutoff by which the PDP’s register had already been submitted to INEC. Pantami defected from the APC in a letter dated May 19, 2026, after criticising Gombe APC leaders over alleged favouritism toward Jamilu Gwamna. The dates create the basis for Mailantarki’s objection.

The article does not report a final court or INEC ruling accepting or rejecting the eligibility claim. It does show a practical consequence: Pantami won the rerun, but his name was missing from INEC’s published list. His campaign says it is pursuing rectification within the legal window.

A court-ordered party-primary rerun is a fresh contest held because a court has invalidated an earlier primary. It gives the party another chance to select its candidate under the judicial directive. The rerun matters because the original result can no longer serve as the accepted basis for nomination.

On September 24, 2026, a Federal High Court sitting in Gombe nullified the earlier PDP primary that had produced Pantami as the party’s flagbearer. The PDP then conducted a repeat exercise on September 29. It used the direct primary model across polling units in Gombe State.

Pantami won the rerun with 2,054 votes, defeating Mailantarki’s 389 and Garry’s 112. Yet the new result also faced objections. Mailantarki challenged Pantami’s eligibility, and Garry called the process flawed. Pantami’s later omission from INEC’s list shows that the rerun did not end every legal or administrative dispute.

If Pantami’s omission is not corrected within the legal window, the immediate result described in the article is that he would remain absent from INEC’s published list of governorship candidates. That would leave uncertainty over who, if anyone, formally represents the PDP in the Gombe governorship contest.

The uncertainty follows a clash between the party primary and the electoral list. Pantami won the court-ordered rerun with 2,054 votes, but Mailantarki challenged his eligibility over the May 10 party-register deadline. INEC subsequently released a list without Pantami’s name, despite his primary victory.

The article does not state the precise legal consequence of a failure to correct the omission. It does not say whether the PDP would submit another candidate, lose participation, or pursue another remedy. It only reports that Pantami’s campaign is engaging the PDP and INEC for rectification within the window provided by law.

The courts influence candidacy by deciding whether a party primary is legally valid. In this case, the Federal High Court in Gombe nullified the earlier PDP primary and required a rerun. That decision forced the party to repeat its selection exercise.

The PDP organised the rerun and used the direct primary model across polling units. Pantami won with 2,054 votes, ahead of Mailantarki and Aliyu Garry. INEC then released its official list of governorship candidates, but Pantami’s name was missing. Mailantarki’s eligibility challenge focused on Pantami’s alleged late entry into the party register.

Together, these institutions shape the route from party contest to official candidacy. The party conducts the primary, the courts can order a new process or resolve disputes, and INEC publishes the recognised list. The article shows that a primary victory does not end the process when eligibility and nomination issues remain contested.

Political parties hold primaries to choose the person who will represent the party in a general election. The contest allows party members or delegates, depending on the model, to select one aspirant from several contenders. A successful candidate then becomes the party’s proposed flagbearer, subject to applicable nomination and electoral requirements.

In Gombe, the PDP used the direct primary model across polling units. Pantami received 2,054 votes, while Mailantarki got 389 and Aliyu Garry got 112. The result made Pantami the winner of the court-ordered rerun and led him to pledge to reunify the party and return it to the Government House.

The article also shows that winning votes may not settle every issue. Mailantarki challenged Pantami’s eligibility because of the May 10 register deadline. INEC later published a list without Pantami, while his campaign sought correction. Thus, the primary selects the party’s choice, but disputes can affect official recognition.