The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, in Kano has setup a Screening Committee to not only screen prospective candidates for election, but also check their academic background and conduct drug tests on them.
“We are purchasing WAEC scratch cards to double cross-checks the academic reliability of any candidate as well as his records with regards to drugs and criminal history if any so that anybody coming will have a sound character as a leader to his people,” the state chairman of the NNPP, Hashimu Sulaiman Dungurawa said.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on Tuesday Dungurawa hinted that the party has also fixed N500,000 nomination fee for chairmanship aspirants. He added that N100,000 has been set as Expression of Interest fee.
“For the councillorship aspirants, we have fixed N150,000 Nomination Fee, while N50,000 is for Expression of Interest. This is to tell you that we as a people’s party, we are considerate of the economic downturn the nation has been plunged into by the President Bola Tinubu government.”
In the same vein, the Chairman, asked all interested aspirants to resigned their Civil Service positions by the end of August 2024, in order to meet the Kano Independent Electoral Commission guidelines.
“We don’t want to create or leave loopholes in our party, that is why we have taken drastic measures against anybody that is contesting and we want to give to Kano citizens people with a sound background who will help them out of their economic and social predicaments,” he added.
According to him, the fees fixed by the State Independent Electoral Commission for expression of interest forms was commendable as only people with high sense of reasoning will pay N10 million and N5 million, respectively, for chairmanship and councillorship elections.
“The fees would enhance effective management of local governments in the state and allow for only credible persons to bid for the seats unlike what used to be obtained with every Dick and Harry contesting,” he added.
