Court Reserves Judgment on Pantami’s PDP Gov Ticket

The Federal High Court in Gombe on Friday reserved judgment in a suit challenging the emergence of former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, as the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate for the 2027 Gombe State election.

The case was filed by PDP governorship aspirant Aliyu Garry, who is asking the court to examine the process that produced Pantami as the party’s flag bearer. Justice Amina-Aliyu Muhammad decided to reserve judgment after lawyers representing all parties completed their final arguments and adopted their written addresses.

Garry is contesting the outcome of the PDP governorship primary, claiming that the process that produced Pantami did not follow the law and the party’s rules. Through his lawyer, he asked the court to grant all the reliefs contained in the suit and rule in his favour.

Pantami’s legal team, led by Mohammed Abdul, SAN, and represented in court by Benjamin Sati, argued that the former minister emerged through a lawful process. The defence asked the court to dismiss the suit, maintaining that the party acted within its rules during the primary election.

After listening to both sides, Justice Muhammad praised the lawyers for the professional manner in which they handled the case before announcing that judgment had been reserved. She said the date for delivering the judgment would be communicated to all parties later.

The case comes just one day after the same court also reserved judgment in another suit filed by a different PDP governorship aspirant, Khamisu Mailantarki, who is also challenging Pantami’s emergence as the party’s candidate.

Mailantarki is asking the court to nullify the PDP governorship primary held on May 26, 2026, and direct the party to conduct another primary election. His case argues that Pantami should not have taken part in the process because he was not a member of the PDP when the primary took place.

Although the second plaintiff in Mailantarki’s suit, Monica Kaltho, later withdrew from the case after consulting with party members, the legal action continued because Mailantarki remained before the court as the principal plaintiff.

Lawyers representing the PDP also completed their arguments in the Mailantarki case, after which the court reserved judgment. The date for both judgments will be announced later by the court.