A supporter of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Suleiman Hashim, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rethink the exclusion of Isa Ali Pantami from its remaining record of candidates for the 2027 Gombe State governorship election, citing the particular circumstances surrounding the nullification of the preliminary main election.
Hashim, who spoke throughout an interview on Arise News on Friday, argued that the Gombe State High Court’s resolution to nullify the preliminary main election created a particular authorized scenario that INEC ought to contemplate in figuring out 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 on a letter indicating that Pantami defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) on May 19, after INEC’s May 10 deadline for social gathering membership registration, Hashim insisted that the previous minister had left the social gathering earlier than the deadline.
“If you see that there’s a letter dated May 19, that doesn’t say all the particulars which may have occurred so far as registrations are involved or what have you ever. But be that as it could, the purpose now could be the truth that the preliminary main that was performed upon that register that you’re speaking about has been nullified, and there’s a completely new main 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 could be resolved by means of an knowledgeable resolution by INEC, including that the individuals of Gombe State and Nigerians throughout the nation have been intently 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 ought to work with the political events to resolve the dispute, sustaining that events have the authority to find out their membership and that the Gombe High Court didn’t query Pantami’s eligibility to contest the election.
“I feel genuinely that it’s not upon INEC to expressly deny a few of these conditions as a result of in addition they should work in cahoots with the political events. After all, it’s the political social gathering that has preserved to find out who’s their member or not, . So, if the political social gathering is insisting that on the brand new main election that held, Pantami is eligible—and I feel even the High Court in Gombe didn’t even contact 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 must be reconsidered in Pantami’s case as a result of the preliminary main election was nullified by the court docket and a contemporary main subsequently performed. He argued that the circumstances uncovered attainable gaps within the Electoral Act that would inform future amendments, whereas expressing confidence that Pantami would profit from the authorized concerns.
“The regulation says that the register must be submitted 21 days earlier than primaries. That was as a result of INEC put out all of these tips, and even the electoral act was premised upon INEC’s timetable. Now, 21 days earlier than the first, however then that main has been quashed, that’s the purpose. So, how then does that part of the act then apply to a particular case now the place that main that the regulation envisaged must be legitimate and which might now have a consequence while you don’t obey all of those tendencies? What then occurs to this explicit case the place the regulation, the court docket stated ‘This primary is off’ and gave a couple of days for the subsequent main to be performed, which has been performed and he has gained?
“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 marketing campaign resolution to exclude Gombe and Jigawa States from the presidential marketing campaign itinerary, Hashim stated supporters would proceed mobilising Nigerians and shaping public perceptions, stressing that nationwide growth was a collective duty requiring residents to maneuver past a tradition 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 additional advised that Pantami’s exclusion from INEC’s remaining record could possibly be linked to his emergence as a political menace, arguing that his political opponents would naturally really feel intimidated by his entry into the race. He stated he had predicted Pantami’s political potential in an article written a few decade in the past.
“I wrote an article perhaps a decade in the past after I spoke concerning the potentials of Pantami going into politics. And lately, I’ve all the time been introduced again to inform those that I’ve been vindicated. I all the time knew that as a result of I labored intently with him, I perceive what stuff he’s acquired to have the ability to take to tables. I knew that after he will get into politics, this form of tendencies—I highlighted all of them there, this form of tendencies are attainable and I’ve been vindicated.
“Nobody will see an opponent like Pantami and will not get intimidated, so it’s only natural.”
Hashim stated Pantami would proceed participating INEC by means of his attorneys to current his case, expressing optimism that the fee would contemplate the circumstances surrounding his exclusion. He additionally expressed hope that Pantami might emerge as Gombe State governor, describing the emergence of the authorized dispute as a attainable lifeline for his ambition.
“He’s continuing along with his attorneys to interact INEC to make his case, which is completely rife. So I feel that it’s incumbent on INEC to have a look at his case, the place I see him as being very optimistic, upbeat that he’s acquired a case to show.
“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.”
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