Pantami’s Second Coming: Former Minister Secures PDP Ticket Again in Gombe

In 2014, Isa Pantami led congregational prayers calling curses down on the PDP and the Goodluck Jonathan government he led. This week, that same party handed him its ticket for the 2027 Gombe State governorship race, for the second time in five months. Pantami polled 2,054 votes in Monday’s rerun primary held across all 11 local government areas, comfortably defeating Khamisu Mailantarki (who scored 389) and Usman Garry (who managed 112). The result was formally announced by Johnbull Shekarau, chairman of the PDP’s governorship primary election committee. The rerun happened because the first one collapsed under legal scrutiny. Pantami had emerged in May through voice affirmation, a process rivals challenged in court, and the Federal High Court in Gombe nullified it on September 24, ordering fresh polling among all three cleared aspirants. His path to that ballot was itself unconventional. Pantami first sought the APC’s 2027 governorship ticket, withdrew under protest in May after the party settled on businessman Jamilu Gwamna through a consensus arrangement, and crossed to the PDP soon after. That trajectory raises a question about consistency, one his career has faced before. As Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, he pushed through the NIN-SIM linkage policy and Nigeria’s 5G rollout, then survived #PantamiMustGo in 2021 after old recordings showed sympathy for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, views he later renounced. The man has weathered controversy before and emerged with his political capital largely intact. Whether Gombe voters treat this reversal, from PDP critic to PDP candidate, as pragmatism or opportunism will likely influence the contest more than the vote count did. Mailantarki has already rejected Monday’s result, calling Pantami legally ineligible and promising a fresh court challenge.