Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State will slug it out with 16 other candidates in the provisional list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to vie for the Gombe North senatorial district seat.
The governor is expected to slug it out with a one-time senator, Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali and 16 other candidates.
Daily Trust had reported that Dankwambo has made his commissioner, Mohammed Usman Ribadu to pick the ticket for him as plan B in the event he lost the presidential ticket.
Also on the list is Senator Muhammad Danjuma Goje who currently represents the Gombe Central Senatorial district on the platform of the APC. He will slug it out with 11 others, including the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Nasiru Abubakar Nono.
A serving member of the House of Representatives, Fatima Binta Bello will contest against 10 others for Gombe South senatorial seat, after beating a serving senator, Joshua Lidani to clinch the PDP’s ticket.
According to the list, 40 other candidates, including four females are to contest for the three senatorial seats in the state.
Gombe-North senatorial district has the highest number of candidates with 17, followed by Gombe-Central and Gombe-South with 12 and 11 candidates respectively.
Daily Trust learnt that a total of 58 candidates – 53 males and five females – are to contest the six House of Representatives seat.
Also, the name of the immediate past Commissioner of Land and Survey, Shehu Abubakar Durbi was also on the provisional list.
Durbi has reportedly refused a plea by the PDP to hand over the ticket for the (Gombe/Kwami/Funakaye) to Usman Ribadu, as a compensation for his (Ribadu) loyalty to the party.