A supporter of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Suleiman Hashim, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reconsider the exclusion of Isa Ali Pantami from its final list of candidates for the 2027 Gombe State governorship election, citing the special circumstances surrounding the nullification of the initial primary election.
Hashim, who spoke during an interview on Arise News on Friday, argued that the Gombe State High Court’s decision to nullify the initial primary election created a special legal situation that INEC should consider in determining Pantami’s eligibility to contest the 2027 governorship election.
“With Pantami specifically, his situation is a little different from all other situations because there’s a High Court sitting in Gombe that came out to sort of nullify the initial primary election. And once they did that, every other condition that had to do with that initial primary is assumed to have been displaced. So now a new primary was conducted, and supposedly we expected that INEC should then take it up from that point of view because the ruling in Gombe had nothing to do with the Supreme Court ruling that INEC relied upon to take out some candidates’ names.”
Addressing questions about a letter indicating that Pantami defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) on May 19, after INEC’s May 10 deadline for party membership registration, Hashim insisted that the former minister had left the party before the deadline.
“If you see that there’s a letter dated May 19, that does not say all of the details that might have happened as far as registrations are concerned or what have you. But be that as it may, the point now is the fact that the initial primary that was conducted upon that register that you are talking about has been nullified, and there’s an entirely new primary that held.
“I’m aware that he had actually gone to his ward and left the party before May 10. That I’m very sure about. I do not have the details of how the party then proceeded to submit those names, but I’m very sure that he had left the APC about May 8, 9th thereabout.”
He expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved through an informed decision by INEC, adding that the people of Gombe State and Nigerians across the country were closely following developments surrounding Pantami’s eligibility to contest the 2027 governorship election.
“Thankfully, the chairman of the INEC himself is a learned silk, and I feel that they will all come together and be able to resolve this specialty of the case. But as for the people of Gombe, they’re following keenly, I’m sure they are every day waiting to hear what next will happen. Not only the people of Gombe, the country over has great interest in this. It is over a week that this situation has happened, but it’s still on the lips of everybody, shows how much interested people are in this matter. And I feel genuinely that at the end of the day, some informed decision is going to be made as far as this matter is concerned.”
Hashim argued that INEC should work with the political parties to resolve the dispute, maintaining that parties have the authority to determine their membership and that the Gombe High Court did not question Pantami’s eligibility to contest the election.
“I think genuinely that it’s not upon INEC to expressly deny some of these situations because they also have to work in cahoots with the political parties. After all, it is the political party that has preserved to determine who is their member or not, you know. So, if the political party is insisting that on the new primary election that held, Pantami is eligible—and I think even the High Court in Gombe did not even touch on Pantami’s eligibility to contest the elections.
“And I genuinely feel that it will only be—this situation will be an impute to the amendment of the electoral act subsequently. However, I think that a resolution of this matter is in Pantami’s favour.”
Hashim maintained that the 21-day membership register requirement should be reconsidered in Pantami’s case because the initial primary election was nullified by the court and a fresh primary subsequently conducted. He argued that the circumstances exposed possible gaps in the Electoral Act that could inform future amendments, while expressing confidence that Pantami would benefit from the legal considerations.
“The law says that the register should be submitted 21 days before primaries. That was because INEC put out all of those guidelines, and even the electoral act was premised upon INEC’s timetable. Now, 21 days before the primary, but then that primary has been quashed, that’s the point. So, how then does that section of the act then apply to a special case now where that primary that the law envisaged should be valid and which would now have a consequence when you don’t obey all of these tendencies? What then happens to this particular case where the law, the court said ‘This primary is off’ and gave a few days for the next primary to be conducted, which has been conducted and he has won?
“So that’s why I said that this is some sort of a special case that has to be looked at purely from the legal point of view. And I said again because we are strengthening our jurisprudence everyday, such kind of tendencies will be imputes to the amendments of the act going forward.”
Defending Tinubu’s campaign decision to exclude Gombe and Jigawa States from the presidential campaign itinerary, Hashim said supporters would continue mobilising Nigerians and shaping public perceptions, stressing that national development was a collective responsibility requiring citizens to move beyond a culture of entitlement and handouts.
“All we’re doing now is to get the conversation to be right all around the world. It doesn’t make them less Nigerian, so they’re interested in what’s happening in Nigeria. Some of these perceptions they carry it a lot more, and so we only went there for narrative setting purposes. So even back here in Nigeria, again in the same Jigawa or Gombe, we’re proceeding to campaign, people are talking to people. What’s most important is for all of us to understand that this responsibility does not rest on the president alone, it rests on all of us. We have a duty to build this country.”
Hashim further suggested that Pantami’s exclusion from INEC’s final list could be linked to his emergence as a political threat, arguing that his political opponents would naturally feel intimidated by his entry into the race. He said he had predicted Pantami’s political potential in an article written about a decade ago.
“I wrote an article maybe a decade ago when I spoke about the potentials of Pantami going into politics. And recently, I’ve always been brought back to tell people that I’ve been vindicated. I always knew that because I worked closely with him, I understand what stuff he’s got to be able to take to tables. I knew that once he gets into politics, this sort of tendencies—I highlighted all of them there, this sort of tendencies are possible and I’ve been vindicated.
“Nobody will see an opponent like Pantami and will not get intimidated, so it’s only natural.”
Hashim said Pantami would continue engaging INEC through his lawyers to present his case, expressing optimism that the commission would consider the circumstances surrounding his exclusion. He also expressed hope that Pantami could emerge as Gombe State governor, describing the emergence of the legal dispute as a possible lifeline for his ambition.
“He’s proceeding with his lawyers to engage INEC to make his case, which is absolutely rife. So I think that it’s incumbent on INEC to look at his case, where I see him as being very optimistic, upbeat that he’s got a case to prove.
“Because he’s also an Islamic cleric, I think he said his prayers appropriately. Because for this special case to pop up itself, to be some sort of lifeline, means that there’s some divine support that is keeping him, and then we might see him emerge as the next governor of Gombe State at the end of the day.”
Favour Odima
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