There is controversy over the purported resignation of the former Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gombe State.
While Pantami’s camp claimed that he had tendered his resignation before joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and emerged as its governorship candidate, some executive members of the party from Pantami Ward in Gombe LGA of the state, debunked the claim that Pantami resigned from APC before joining the PDP.
However, in an interview with Daily Trust yesterday, chairman of the party in Pantami Ward, Alhaji Bala Galda, said he personally received the resignation letter from the former minister.
The embattled chairman said he received the letter which was dated May 19; and he thumbprint on the acknowledgement copy, alongside the party’s legal adviser, Malam Babangida Gololo.
“When Prof. Pantami joined the PDP and clinched its ticket for governorship election, the party leadership at the Local Government level summoned all the Pantami Ward executives and directed us not to receive or sign any resignation letter from him when he presented it to us.
“But I told the meeting that I had already received, signed and thumbprinted the letter since May 19, because there was no directive or legal requirement that mandated me to inform the party leadership at the local government or state level whenever a member voluntarily decided to resign from the party,” he explained.
Galda further stated that the party leaders asked him to deny knowledge of the said resignation, a directive he said he rejected outrighly.
“I told them that I could not deny what I knew to be a fact, especially since my fingerprints were on the letter, which is currently in possession of Prof. Pantami.”
Also, the Pantami Ward APC Legal Adviser, Malam Babangida Gololo, said there is no constitutional requirement that requires an ordinary party member to tender a written resignation before joining another political party. In practice, joining a new party is often treated as clear evidence of exit from the former one,” he said.
When contacted, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr Moses Kyari, said the party had requested the ward chairman to produce the acknowledged copy of the resignation letter, “but he failed to present it.”
According to him, the ward secretary ought to receive the resignation letter, not the chairman.
“Be that as it may, we asked him to appear before the party or give us the original copy of the said resignation letter to us presented by Pantami. But until now he remained incommunicado and refused to honour the party’s invitation.
“Therefore, as far as the party is concerned, Pantami’s name is still on its membership list on the INEC portal. We are not saying that he must remain in the party, but he has to follow the right procedure when resigning from the party,” Kyari explained.