…Expresses worries over credible elections
By Bose Adelaja & Adetomiwa Adewoyin
CITIZENS COMPASS— An Islamic human rights group, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), on Tuesday insisted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has no basis to arbitrarily omit the name of the Gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State, Professor Ibrahim Isa Ali Pantami, from its final list.
MURIC demanded the immediate reinstatement of Pantami’s name.
Addressing a press conference at its Headquarters in the Iba area of Lagos State, Professor Ishaq Akintola, Founder/Executive Director, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), expressed worries over the credibility of the 2027 general elections, judging by the hostility of INEC towards the candidates of opposition parties.
Citizens Compass reported that Pantami is the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in Gombe State.
According to Akintola:
As you are aware, our great country, Nigeria, is in the twilight of preparations for the 2027 general elections, which are slated to kick off on 16th January, 2027. Preparations are already in full gear, and everything is being done to ensure peaceful, free, fair, and credible general elections.
We have convened this press conference because we see that something has gone wrong and it needs to be addressed. No election can be credible when candidates are being disallowed from contesting for no just cause.
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) is not affiliated to any political party. We are categorically non-partisan.
As an Islamic human rights group, our interest lies in the protection, promotion, and projection of Allah-given fundamental rights of Nigerian Muslims. As far as the Nigerian political landscape is concerned, our interest is not the political party or parties but the Muslim candidates and the Muslim electorate.
To this end and to confirm our claim, we supported the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State during the gubernatorial election held in August 2026 because the state governor had been unfair to Muslims in the state (https://www.citizenscompassngr.com/muric-canvases-against-re-election-of-osun-governor-adeleke/)It is therefore clear that we are for all political parties in so far as Muslims populate all political parties.
Going down memory lane, MUTIC said: Professor Isa Ali Pantami was the only governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State as at May 2026. He was given a voice affirmation as a sole aspirant on May 26, 2026. The voice vote was presided over by the PDP electoral committee chairman for Gombe State, Gregory Yenlong.
This initial primary was later nullified by the Federal High Court, leading to a fresh primary election on September 29, 2026. The fresh primary election was duly conducted, and Pantami still emerged as the winner with a wide margin, scoring 2,054 votes to defeat Khamisu Mailantarki and Aliyu Garry, who polled 389 and 112 votes, respectively, in the direct primary.
It is noteworthy that INEC monitored the PDP’s fresh primary election won by Pantami. The INEC team at the historic event was led by Mr. Gambo Umar Arabi. This team leader signed and submitted an official report. So what is INEC now telling us? On what ground is INEC disowning a process it was part of? The presence of INEC at the PDP primary election which produced Pantami proves beyond any reasonable doubt that both Pantami and his party went through due process.
Contrary to all expectations, however, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) came out of the blue to omit Professor Pantami’s name from the list of guber candidates in Gombe State.
But why would INEC still go ahead to remove Professor Pantami’s name from the list of Gombe gubernatorial candidates after a court of competent jurisdiction had ruled that a new primary election should be held, and it was so held? From that moment, the product of that election becomes a bona fide candidate.
From this standpoint, INEC’s action against Pantami must be seen as deliberate and premeditated. The removal of Pantami’s name constitutes a challenge to a court ruling and an act of impunity bordering on contempt because the fresh primary election was ordered by a court of law. If that is so (and it is), the outcome of that fresh primary has the force of law. INEC’s omission of Pantami’s name is therefore illegal, illegitimate, unlawful and unconstitutional.
However, we hold the chairman of INEC solely responsible for this atrocity. But to understand the rationale for taking this position, we rewind the tape to the illusory Christian genocide hullabaloo which overwhelmed the Nigerian socio-political architecture from 2025 through 2026.
It is an open secret that the same Professor Joash Amupitan who occupies the highest seat in INEC today was fingered as the author of the damning 80-page legal brief which was sent to America. He has not denied this to date.
That document was used by the White House to wrongly and unfairly indict Nigeria. Our country was labelled ‘Country of Special Concern’. We were threatened. US troops eventually landed in Nigeria. Sokoto was attacked. Nigeria held its breath and trembled.
But objective Nigerians across all faiths know the truth. They know that the narrative of Christian genocide was a myth, a charade, a sham, and a fictitious story put together by confusionists. Thousands of Muslims, our emirs, our imams, and our Islamic scholars have been victims of insurgency.
It is an irony of history that the man behind the petition against Nigerian Muslims, which was sent to America, is, today, the chairman of INEC, and this is didactic.
It is didactic because we raised the alarm about a possible repeat of anti-Muslim sentiment on the part of this same man, Professor Joash Amupitan, when he was picked as head of the nation’s electoral body. We said there was a strong likelihood of him profiling Muslim candidates and their voters before, during, and even after elections.
”We were not the only Islamic organization that protested against his appointment. The Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria (SCSN) also did. Yet he was retained. Amupitan’s lopsided handling of Professor Pantami’s candidature has now vindicated both MURIC and the Shariah Council. He should have been fired a long time ago.
We contend that Professor Amupitan still has an axe to grind with Muslim candidates and Muslim voters. We are not safe in the hands of INEC under Amupitan. We are not fantasizing. What happened to Professor Pantami is enough for us as proof of religious victimisation.
Pantami’s gubernatorial candidature must be revalidated. We passed a vote of no confidence in Professor Amupitan.
We call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to find a suitable replacement, a man or woman who is detribalised and devoid of religious sentiment. Amupitan is not sine qua non. No Nigerian is indispensable at any point in time. We are a Nation greatly endowed with humongous talents. Nobody should hold our nation to ransom.
While President Tinubu is working very hard on economic reform, Amupitan is pursuing his hidden agenda in INEC, namely, to weed out Islamic scholars among the candidates in the 2027 general elections, particularly those vying for higher offices like the governorship post.
Incidentally, Professor Ibrahim Isa Ali Pantami is vying for the position of governor of Gombe State under the banner of the PDP, and Amupitan has a special interest in him. He must explain this special interest.
We said it a long time ago. A man who took it upon himself to write an 80-page legal brief replete with falsehoods against Nigerian Muslims, on the basis of which the United States labelled Nigeria as a country of special concern, a Christian-killer nation, and a country where Christian genocide reigns supreme, cannot be a good electoral umpire.
If Amupitan can manufacture all those lies against Nigerian Muslims in his 80-page legal brief, which he willingly sent to the United States, nothing stops him from concocting worse luciferous allegations against the only Islamic scholar contesting for the post of governor in today’s Nigeria, something unheard of before in this country.
In Amupitan’s anti-Muslim dogma, it is normal for Christian clergy to become governors, but it is an anathema for an Islamic scholar to govern a state.
Pastor Umo Eno (the founder of All Nations Christian Ministry) is on terra cognita as governor of Akwa Ibom. Apostle Sen. Bassey Otu has every right to be governor in Cross River State, while it is Reverend Father Hyacinth Iormem Alia’s birthright to occupy Benue State Government House.
We equally recall that Governor Agbu Kefas of Taraba State is also a pastor. He is the founder and president of The Great Gospel House Ministries (also known as The Great Gospel House Church) in Jalingo. That makes four pastors as governors in Nigeria.
But Amupitan cannot stomach the sight or thought of just one Islamic scholar becoming the governor of Gombe State. We put it to INEC that its chairman has a ‘Candidate of Special Concern’ (CSC), and it is no other than Professor Isa Ali Pantami. INEC chairman still has an anti-Muslim mindset. He is Islamophobic.
Otherwise, why would INEC still go ahead to remove Professor Pantami’s name from the list of Gombe gubernatorial candidates after a court of competent jurisdiction had ruled that a new primary election should be held, and it was so held? From that moment, the product of that election becomes a bona fide candidate.
We cannot but reiterate that INEC’s action against Pantami must be seen as deliberate and premeditated. The removal of Pantami’s name constitutes a challenge to a court ruling and an act of contempt. Once again, we assert clearly, categorically and unequivocally that the removal of Professor Pantami’s name from the list of gubernatorial candidates in Gombe is illegal, illegitimate, unlawful and unconstitutional. It is a hate action.
In conclusion, MURIC demands the immediate reinstatement of the name of Professor Ibrahim Isa Ali Pantami as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Gombe State.
