GOMBE APC CRISIS: Pantami ward chairman confirms receiving ex-minister’s resignation
Grassroots party officials from Pantami Ward have openly contradicted the state leadership’s position regarding the resignation of the former minister of communications and digital economy, Sheikh Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
A report by Mustapha Imam Gujuba in Leadership reveals that the APC leadership reportedly only realized Sheikh Pantami had exited the party after he had secured a ticket with the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
According to sources, Alhaji Bala Galda, the APC chairman for Pantami Ward in Gombe Local Government Area, personally received Sheikh Pantami’s resignation letter on May 19, 2026. Galda formally acknowledged receipt of the document with both his signature and thumbprint. The party’s legal adviser, Babangida Gololo, also sighted the resignation letter on the same day.
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Following the discovery of Pantami’s defection, the state APC leadership reportedly summoned Pantami Ward executives, directing them not to acknowledge or sign any resignation letter from the former minister.
However, the ward chairman stood his ground during the meeting, confirming that Pantami had left the APC long before the party primaries and that his resignation had already been officially acknowledged on May 19. This revelation reportedly triggered panic within the party hierarchy, leading to alleged intimidation, verbal attacks, and threatening phone calls directed at Galda, whom leadership blamed for the breakdown of the party’s structure in Gombe.
The rift widened on June 6, 2026, when the Deputy Ward Chairman, Yaya Isa, organized a press briefing to deny knowledge of the resignation. Reports indicate that Isa was pressured by state government and APC officials to hold the briefing after Alhaji Bala Galda refused to recant his position, noting that he could not deny a document bearing his own fingerprints.
Both Galda and the legal adviser, Babangida Gololo, boycotted the press briefing, a fact corroborated by the meeting’s circulated attendance sheet.
Speaking at the briefing, Yaya Isa admitted that the chairman had indeed informed the executive committee about receiving and acknowledging the letter. Isa explained that while the letter arrived on May 19, the chairman briefed the executives on May 23. He added that the legal adviser confirmed seeing the document but could not produce a copy at the time of the briefing.
Political analysts observe that the APC’s intense focus on the paperwork may have little legal backing. Neither the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) nor the Electoral Act 2022 expressly mandates an ordinary party member to tender a written resignation before joining another political party.
In Nigerian political practice, registering with a new party is widely accepted as an implicit exit from the former one. Furthermore, many political party constitutions, including the APC’s, explicitly state that joining another party results in the automatic cessation of membership.
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