Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has, through his lawyers, given the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) three days to publish his name as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for Gombe State in the 2027 general elections.

Pantami’s legal team, led by Senior Advocates of Nigeria Ahmed Raji, A.T. Kehinde, Abdul Mohammed and Wale Balogun, alongside Chief Tunde Falola, made the demand in a letter dated October 12, 2026, addressed to the INEC Chairman.

The lawyers are protesting the omission of Pantami’s name from the commission’s final list of candidates for the 2027 elections, published on October 10, describing the development as unlawful and unexplained.

In the letter, the legal team maintained that Pantami was duly nominated by the PDP after emerging victorious in a fresh governorship primary conducted on September 29, 2026, following two Federal High Court judgments that nullified an earlier primary held on May 26.

According to the lawyers, the fresh primary was conducted in compliance with the court orders, the Electoral Act 2026, the PDP constitution and its electoral guidelines.

They added that INEC officials attended, observed and monitored the exercise, with the commission retaining the monitoring report.

The lawyers explained that the Federal High Court, Gombe, in two separate judgments delivered on September 24, 2026, nullified the May 26 primary over issues relating to its conduct and directed the PDP to conduct a fresh exercise within 30 days.

They argued that the court’s orders restrained the party and INEC from recognising or giving effect to a nomination arising from the May 26 exercise, rather than preventing Pantami from emerging as the party’s candidate through a fresh primary.

The legal team also cited portions of the judgments which, according to them, rejected challenges to Pantami’s PDP membership and eligibility to contest the governorship primary.

Maintaining that INEC lacked the authority to independently disqualify a duly nominated candidate, the lawyers cited previous decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in support of their position that the removal of a candidate’s name was a judicial act.

Pantami’s lawyers consequently demanded that INEC publish and circulate his name as the PDP candidate for the Gombe State governorship election on or before October 14, 2026, with the same prominence accorded to other candidates on the final list.

They further requested written confirmation of the steps taken by the commission to resolve the matter, expressing confidence that INEC would take corrective action in accordance with the rule of law and the relevant court orders.