₦airaland Forum

FSBoperator:
Didn't your Giringori win Imo by a massive landslide ?

Then that is proof that there was massive rigging across the SE.

Obiedun:
That is story. If you yourself fail to behave well, we will jail you and nothing go happen. There's a limit to everything even your rights.

TopBanter:
Both are not compatible? What do you believe "working vacation" means? Perhaps you should google it.

FSBoperator:
The only reason you are on this thread is to plan obituary .

The only place someone will drink corpse water this year is in your household.

FSBoperator:
Have you come back from his burial ?

FSBoperator:
This temu low budget CIA operative has come again.

Well, he knows the audience and followers that engage him on his SM handles.

The Nyesom Wike-backed faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State will conduct its fresh governorship primary today, Tuesday, September 29, with former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, among the three aspirants cleared to participate.

The other two aspirants are Usman Aliyu Garry and Khamisu Ahmed Mailantarki.

The exercise follows a September 24 judgment of the Federal High Court in Gombe, which nullified the earlier PDP governorship primary that produced Pantami and directed the party to conduct another primary within 30 days.

The State Publicity Secretary of the faction, Abdulkadir Ahmed Dukku, confirmed on Monday that preparations had been completed for the fresh exercise.

Dukku said the primary would be conducted in accordance with the court judgment and the relevant rules of the party.

“We will conduct the fresh primary in accordance with the judgment of the Federal High Court,” he said.

The party had earlier announced September 29 as the date for the repeat primary and directed eligible members and delegates to assemble at their respective ward areas to participate in the exercise.

The fresh contest has reopened the battle for the PDP governorship ticket in Gombe after Pantami’s earlier emergence was set aside by the court.

Pantami had emerged from the party’s May 26 primary through a voice affirmation after joining the PDP following his withdrawal from the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship race.

His emergence was subsequently challenged by rival aspirants, including Garry and Mailantarki, who questioned the procedure used by the party to produce him as its candidate.

The Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Amina Aliyu Mohammed, held that the process did not comply with the PDP’s internal regulations and applicable electoral provisions.

The court consequently ordered the party to return to the primary process and conduct a fresh exercise.

However, the court did not grant the request seeking to remove Pantami from the PDP or permanently prevent him from seeking the party’s nomination.

That aspect of the judgment has become a major point of disagreement ahead of today’s exercise.

Garry, who was among those who challenged the earlier primary, has opposed Pantami’s participation in the fresh contest.

Speaking with journalists in Gombe on Monday, Garry said the fresh primary should be limited to aspirants who met the relevant requirements within the stipulated period.

He recalled that a screening committee led by former Kaduna State Governor, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, had screened the party’s governorship aspirants before the earlier primary.

According to Garry, some aspirants were prevented from taking part in the previous exercise, leading to the legal action that eventually resulted in the court-ordered rerun.

He said he and other aspirants had written to the PDP leadership and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), asking that Pantami be prevented from participating in the fresh primary.

Garry’s argument centres on the timing of Pantami’s entry into the PDP.

He maintained that the former minister joined the party after the list of governorship aspirants had already been submitted to INEC.

“Pantami joined the PDP on May 19, and the court also confirmed that. Therefore, his name was not on the list of the party’s aspirants submitted to INEC. He should not be allowed to participate in the fresh primary,” Garry said.


The Federal High Court judgment itself did not permanently disqualify the former minister.

It instead nullified the earlier primary and ordered the PDP to conduct another exercise in compliance with its rules and applicable electoral laws.

Mailantarki, another aspirant who challenged the earlier process, has taken a different position ahead of the fresh contest.

The former member of the House of Representatives called for calm among PDP members and supporters across the state’s 11 local government areas and 114 wards.

He also urged the party leadership to ensure a transparent process and provide equal opportunity for all the aspirants.

Mailantarki said the court judgment had addressed concerns he and others had raised over the previous primary.

“It is a good development and we are going to run in the contest together with him, and so it’s a good development, and we are calling even all our supporters to be calm and to take this in good faith, to abide by whatever comes out of it,” he said.

On the reported appeal against the judgment, Mailantarki said any party member dissatisfied with a court decision was entitled to seek further judicial clarification.

He also urged PDP members to respect the outcome of the fresh primary once it is concluded.

The controversy over Pantami’s eligibility has also coincided with a recent Supreme Court decision concerning provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 relating to party membership registers and candidate nomination procedures.

The apex court restored key provisions dealing with membership registers and nomination processes.

The judgment has generated fresh questions over politicians who changed political parties before seeking nominations for the 2027 elections.

However, reports on the Supreme Court judgment indicate that it did not make a candidate-specific determination disqualifying Pantami from today’s Gombe PDP primary.

The separate Federal High Court judgment in Gombe dealt directly with the process through which Pantami emerged from the earlier PDP primary.

Meanwhile, INEC has confirmed that it will monitor the fresh PDP governorship primary.

The commission’s Public Relations Officer in Gombe, Mohorret Bigun, confirmed that the state office had received communication from the commission’s national headquarters regarding the exercise.

“Yes, we received a letter to that effect from the National Headquarters, the primary elections will hold on Tuesday,” Bigun said

The African Action Congress (AAC) has dragged President Bola Tinubu, the Attorney General of the Federation and other senior government officials before the Federal High Court in Abuja over the President’s failure to transmit power to Vice President Kashim Shettima during his prolonged vacation outside Nigeria.

The suit was filed on Monday, September 28.

It challenges what the party described as President Tinubu’s failure to comply with Section 145(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which provides for the transmission of written declaration when a President is proceeding on vacation or is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office.

The case was filed through an Originating Summons by the AAC National Legal Adviser and Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong.

The party is asking the Federal High Court to declare that Tinubu’s alleged failure or refusal to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives was unlawful and unconstitutional.

According to the AAC, such a declaration would have enabled the National Assembly to pass a resolution authorising Shettima to perform the functions of the office of President as Acting President.


The party is also asking the court to declare that the failure of the National Assembly to pass a resolution enabling Shettima to act as President after Tinubu’s absence exceeded 21 days was unconstitutional.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2353/2026, also seeks an order of perpetual injunction restraining Tinubu and future Nigerian presidents from proceeding on vacation without complying with the constitutional provisions relating to the transfer of presidential powers.

The AAC’s case is contained in a 30-paragraph affidavit deposed to by its National Secretary, Oshiokhue Philip Ikpeminoghena.

In the affidavit, the party stated that Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30, 2026, for a working vacation in Europe and subsequently announced an extension of his stay on September 21.

The AAC questioned the extension and argued that the President’s continued absence created an obligation under the Constitution concerning the transfer of presidential functions.

The party also criticised the role of the National Assembly leadership during the President’s absence.

It stated that Senate President Godswill Akpabio, rather than taking steps the AAC believes were required under the Constitution, announced that he had travelled to the Prayer Ground of St. Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, to pray for Nigeria.

Akpabio, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, the National Assembly and Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, were joined as defendants in the case alongside President Tinubu.

The party’s 2027 presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, was also present at the Federal High Court to witness the filing of the suit.

The legal challenge comes shortly after Vice President Shettima returned to Nigeria from New York, where he represented President Tinubu at the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Shettima had departed Nigeria on September 20 on Tinubu’s mandate to lead the Nigerian delegation to the annual gathering of world leaders.

During the UN General Assembly, the Vice President delivered Nigeria’s national statement and presented the administration’s position on issues including reform of the United Nations Security Council, development financing, climate support, regional integration and global economic cooperation.

Nigeria renewed its demand for permanent African representation on the UN Security Council and called for reforms aimed at improving developing countries’ access to international financing.

Shettima also participated in discussions on Africa’s mineral resources, where Nigeria advocated moving away from the export of raw minerals towards local processing, manufacturing and value addition.

He further represented Nigeria at a high-level education financing event co-hosted by Nigeria and Italy, where he reiterated the Federal Government’s position that investment in education was important to human capital development and economic growth.

The Vice President also met Nigerians in the diaspora and held engagements with the new leadership of the Economic Community of West African States Commission and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed.

His return to Nigeria has coincided with renewed attention on Tinubu’s continued absence from the country.

The Presidency has, however, rejected concerns over the President’s absence and maintained that Tinubu remains in charge of government.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said on Sunday that Tinubu was “hale and hearty” and “perfectly entitled” to take a working vacation.

“President Tinubu is hale and hearty,” Onanuga said.

He argued that the President did not have to be physically present in Abuja at all times to perform his constitutional responsibilities, particularly because modern communication technology allows him to remain in contact with officials and monitor government activities.

“In this digital age, he does not need to be physically present in Abuja to do the work for which he was elected in 2023,” Onanuga said.

The Presidency also said Tinubu had remained engaged with developments in Nigeria while abroad and had held meetings with investors and other stakeholders in France.

It cited the President’s involvement in discussions around a proposed $7 billion deep-sea port project in Ogun Waterside as an example of his official engagements during the vacation.

The Presidency had earlier announced that Tinubu’s working vacation, which began on August 30, would be extended by a few days. It subsequently indicated that the President was expected to return to Nigeria on Tuesday, September 29, through Lagos.

Tinubu is also expected to participate in activities connected to Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary on October 1 before returning to Abuja. The Presidency said he is expected to attend the premiere of a movie commemorating the late businessman and politician, MKO Abiola, during the Independence Day period.

LordIsaac:
When the head is rotten, the body cannot function. Read "My Watch"!

duro4chang:
simply because you are going to fail as usual. No chance for obi. He should go back to agulu and be their president. Sharing of palm oil is a waste of time and resources. Obi can never be president.

duro4chang:
Vote buying taking too far. But I know sha that it's effort in futility.