Gombe, carved out of Bauchi in 1996, is one of the smaller north-eastern states by population, but its politics have produced several national figures, including two former governors who went on to long careers in the Senate. Since 1999 the state has had four governors from three parties, and it has been governed by the APC since 2019.
1999 and 2003: Hashidu loses re-election
Abubakar Habu Hashidu, a former federal minister, won the state’s first Fourth Republic election in January 1999 for the All People’s Party with 349,284 votes. In April 2003 he became one of the sitting governors swept out in the PDP’s gains across the North. The PDP’s Mohammed Danjuma Goje, a former minister of state for power, won 495,562 votes to Hashidu’s 468,223, a margin of 27,339.
2007: Goje’s landslide
Goje was re-elected in April 2007 with 985,013 votes, one of the largest totals in a year that observers widely condemned for rigging. Hashidu, now in the Democratic People’s Party, managed 38,303. The ANPP’s candidate that year was Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna, who would still be seeking the governorship nearly two decades later.
2011 and 2015: Dankwambo holds the state for the PDP
Goje went to the Senate and handed over to Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, the former Accountant-General of the Federation. Dankwambo won in April 2011 with 596,481 votes against 91,781 for Abubakar Aliyu of the CPC. In 2015, when the APC took most of the North, he was one of only seven PDP governorship candidates to win anywhere, beating the APC’s Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya by 285,369 votes to 205,132.
2019: Inuwa Yahaya’s turn
Inuwa Yahaya, a former state finance commissioner, came back in 2019 and this time the national tide was with him. On 9 March 2019 he won with 364,179 votes against 222,868 for the PDP’s Usman Bayero Nafada, a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, ending 16 years of PDP rule.
2023: a second term, and a feud inside the APC
Inuwa Yahaya’s first term was marked by a bitter quarrel with Goje, who had by then moved to the APC as well. Supporters of the two men clashed in Gombe in November 2021, and the party’s state chapter split into rival camps. The governor still won comfortably on 18 March 2023: 342,821 votes (56.6%) to 233,131 (38.5%) for the PDP’s Mohammed Jibrin Barde, a businessman. The Supreme Court upheld his victory in January 2024.
The results at a glance
| Year | Winner (party) | Votes | Runner-up (party) | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Abubakar Habu Hashidu (APP) | 349,284 | PDP candidate | not published |
| 2003 | Danjuma Goje (PDP) | 495,562 | Abubakar Habu Hashidu (ANPP) | 468,223 |
| 2007 | Danjuma Goje (PDP) | 985,013 | not published | – |
| 2011 | Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (PDP) | 596,481 | Abubakar Aliyu (CPC) | 91,781 |
| 2015 | Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (PDP) | 285,369 | Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya (APC) | 205,132 |
| 2019 | Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya (APC) | 364,179 | Usman Bayero Nafada (PDP) | 222,868 |
| 2023 | Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya (APC) | 342,821 | Mohammed Jibrin Barde (PDP) | 233,131 |
The full 2007 return was not published in a form we can verify, so the runner-up is not shown. If you have the official INEC result, send a correction from this page.
2027: Gwamna’s fourth attempt
Inuwa Yahaya is term-limited. In the APC primary in May 2026, Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna, a former managing director of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company who had twice finished second in PDP governorship primaries, won with 247,161 votes. Former communications minister Isa Pantami and Senator Saidu Ahmed Alkali, who had submitted withdrawal letters during the exercise, polled about 12,000 each. INEC’s final list for the 6 February 2027 election, published in October 2026, shows no PDP candidate in Gombe. The ADC is fielding Bala Bello and the NNPP Abdullahi Maikano Umar.
