In 2014, Isa Pantami led congregational prayers calling curses down at the PDP and the Goodluck Jonathan govt he led. This week, that very same celebration passed him its price ticket for the 2027 Gombe State governorship race, for the second one time in 5 months.
Pantami polled 2,054 votes in Monday’s rerun number one held throughout all 11 native govt spaces, conveniently defeating Khamisu Mailantarki (who scored 389) and Usman Garry (who controlled 112). The outcome was once officially introduced by way of Johnbull Shekarau, chairman of the PDP’s governorship number one election committee.
The rerun took place for the reason that first one collapsed underneath prison scrutiny. Pantami had emerged in Might thru voice confirmation, a procedure opponents challenged in court docket, and the Federal Prime Court docket in Gombe nullified it on September 24, ordering contemporary polling amongst all 3 cleared aspirants.
His trail to that poll was once itself unconventional. Pantami first sought the APC’s 2027 governorship price ticket, withdrew underneath protest in Might after the celebration settled on businessman Jamilu Gwamna thru a consensus association, and crossed to the PDP quickly after.
That trajectory raises a query about consistency, one his profession has confronted ahead of.
As Minister of Communications and Virtual Economic system, he driven in the course of the NIN-SIM linkage coverage and Nigeria’s 5G rollout, then survived #PantamiMustGo in 2021 after previous recordings confirmed sympathy for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, perspectives he later renounced.
The person has weathered controversy ahead of and emerged along with his political capital in large part intact. Whether or not Gombe citizens deal with this reversal, from PDP critic to PDP candidate, as pragmatism or opportunism will most likely affect the competition greater than the vote depend did.
Mailantarki has already rejected Monday’s outcome, calling Pantami legally ineligible and promising a contemporary court docket problem.