By Abubakar M. Kareto
In competitive football, timing and tactical discipline define greatness. A marquee signing can arrive with blistering fanfare, international pedigree, and an aura of invincibility, but if he bolts past the defensive backline before the ball is released, the assistant referee’s flag shoots straight up. The roar of the stadium is abruptly silenced, the goal is scrubbed from the scoreboard, and play resets from the spot of the infringement.
That is the exact tactical reckoning confronting Gombe State politics today.
When former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Pantami, migrated into the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it was choreographed as a championship coup. Yet, in their rush to hand him the captain’s armband and the striker’s jersey, both player and party leadership committed a fundamental foul. In his hurry to claim an uncontested coronation, Pantami ran miles ahead of the play. The Federal High Court in Gombe, presided over by Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed, did what any principled referee must. The court reviewed the evidence, spotted the procedural breach, waved the offside flag, and disallowed the goal.
The deepest paradox of this drama lies in its political backstory. Pantami walked out of the All Progressives Congress (APC) precisely because party consensus dynamics coalesced around Dr. Jamilu Ishaku Gwamna, the Sardaunan Gombe. Pantami departed the ruling party wrapped in victimhood, decrying marginalization, high-handedness, and an alleged deficit of fair play. He presented himself as a principled democrat seeking an arena where procedural justice could thrive.
Yet the moment he stepped under the PDP umbrella, he orchestrated and embraced the very vices he claimed to have fled.
Instead of submitting to an open contest, he insisted on an unearned coronation. Rather than testing his grassroots pull against legitimate, battle-tested PDP aspirants who held the party’s ramparts when it possessed neither federal patronage nor state power, a hasty voice affirmation was staged on May 26 to clear the board. The contradiction is glaring. He decried consensus when it favored a more rooted opponent, yet imposed an undemocratic affirmation the moment personal ambition demanded it. It exposes a brand of politics driven not by institutional reform, but by sheer personal entitlement.
In the language of the streets, the PDP hierarchy attempted an arrogant leg-over, a flashy stepover trick meant to bamboozle aspirants who had paid millions for nomination forms, crisscrossed the wards, and mobilized delegates. Party administrators assumed that a celebrated federal figure could simply steamroll statutory electoral guidelines and internal party rules. By locking out legitimate contenders who held valid screening clearances, the party laid its nomination on legal quicksand.
The court’s verdict was swift and decisive. The voice affirmation was declared dead on arrival, the primary was nullified, and the PDP was handed a thirty-day ultimatum to conduct an authentic exercise.
Now, the PDP in Gombe has scheduled a fresh primary, purporting to clear Pantami alongside Hon. Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki and Hon. Usman Aliyu Garry. Yet, this move drags the party deeper into tactical incoherence. As Hon. Mailantarki candidly pointed out in urging Pantami to withdraw and support the authentic race between himself and Garry, Pantami’s entry breached fundamental statutory timelines. By the time he crossed carpets, the window set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had already lapsed.
To compound this vulnerability, the statutory landscape has shifted against last-minute political maneuvers. The September 24, 2026 Supreme Court decision upholding key provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 restored the strict requirement that only individuals on a party’s membership register submitted to INEC at least 21 days prior to primaries can validly contest or be nominated. While legal authorities note the apex court’s ruling does not execute an automatic cancellation of existing tickets, it firmly arms aggrieved party members with lethal grounds for post-primary litigation. For political defectors who crossed carpets after statutory registers were submitted or outside legitimate nomination windows, the ruling erects an insurmountable legal barrier that renders any renewed ticket fatally vulnerable to judicial invalidation.
Every successful football squad requires an authentic midfield general, someone whose positioning is immaculate, who controls the tempo, and who enjoys the unconditional trust of the entire squad. In Gombe’s contemporary arena, that anchor remains Dr. Jamilu Ishaku Gwamna.
The contrast between the two figures explains why Pantami’s calculations continue to unravel. While Pantami has relied on sudden migrations and backroom maneuvers, Gwamna has built multi-decade grassroots equity across Gombe’s eleven local government areas. Gwamna’s presence is not an ad-hoc tactical calculation mounted twelve months before an election. His sustained interventions in community healthcare, rural water access, and educational foundations have carried families across Balanga, Billiri, Dukku, and Akko through consecutive political seasons.
Furthermore, Gombe is a delicate cultural and geopolitical tapestry requiring an authentic bridge-builder. As Sardaunan Gombe, Gwamna commands traditional respect and cross-cultural warmth, uniting the agrarian communities of the south and the northern plains without alienating diverse demographic groups. While Pantami has sought shortcuts through backroom deals, Gwamna has consistently done the hard legwork of coalition building. He understands that elections are won not by lecturing from high pedestals, but by sitting with the ward chairmen, youth vanguards, and community elders who turn out the vote.
Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed’s judgment is not a crisis for Gombe; it is a moment of democratic hygiene. Reinforced by the apex court’s insistence on statutory fidelity, it sends an unequivocal warning to political actors that subnational elections cannot be hijacked by Abuja decrees or late-hour platform hopping.
Professor Pantami remains a scholar of distinction, but in this contest, he rushed his run, broke the defensive line, and was caught flat-footed. Attempting to replay the passage of play while ignoring fundamental rules will not salvage the match. As the PDP scrambles to navigate its fresh primary within the court-mandated deadline, the lesson is clear. Gimmicks and clumsy procedural tricks will not win Gombe. If opposition politics hopes to survive, it must stop gambling on offside runners and recognize the natural, trusted leader who has commanded the center of the pitch all along, Dr. Jamilu Ishaku Gwamna.
Abubakar M. Kareto is a Public Affairs Analyst and Communications Strategist focusing on governance, policies, economy, and institutional reforms across Nigeria and Africa. He can be reached on X @amkareto and via email at amkareto@gmail.com.
