Gbolahan Salman Sokoto
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has assured the Kaduna aspirants for the Federal House of Representatives and Senate of fairness through the screening exercise that commenced on Wednesday.
Chairman, the Kaduna State National Assembly Screening Committee, Yusuf Dingyadi told journalists that, the committee would ensure equal treatment, fairness and a level playing ground for all the aspirants.
According to him, 76 aspirants comprised of 63 house of representatives aspirants and 13 senate aspirants would undergo the screening exercise between Wednesday and Friday when the exercise is expected to end.
He said, “we have started in good footage. We had earlier met with party officials and stakeholders in the state. Today, we discussed with the aspirants to hear from them while we also told them our mission and terms of reference we are to work with.
“We are starting the screening this afternoon with the serving members of the senate and house of representatives. We have 63 aspirants who have purchased and returned their forms for the house of reps and 13 for the senate.
“Let me quickly add that we need to do a good job to come out with the finest candidates because Kaduna is dear to the PDP due to its position in northern politics.
“Again, residents of the state are so tired of the kind of treatment they are getting from the All Progressives (APC) government. That is why my committee will ensure that we screen up the best before going into primaries so that at the end of the day, we can have the best match for any political party.
“I’m assuring all our aspirants of the level playing ground. As a team, we have resolved that no one will influence our work because the party belong to all of us.
“However, anyone with a fraud case hanging on him, convicted or with the issue of tax clearance will not be cleared because even if such a fellow scales through, the INEC and court are there to challenge him or her and we are not ready for that. Even if you win the election, the court is there to throw you out and we don’t want that. So, we will do our work diligently to ensure will give Kaduna people the best candidates ahead of the 2023 elections”, he assured.
One of the aspirants, Paulina Ahmed, Sabon Garia, Zaria, said the process has been going on well with the expectation that it will end well, “as you can see, the screening is going on well and we hope it will be like that till everyone is screened. So, I’m appealing to the leadership of our great party to remember its promises to give a few women who are aspiring the opportunity to represent their constituencies”, she said.
Another federal constituency aspirant, Chikun Kajuru, Maria Samuel Dogo also described the process as good, transparent and void of suspicion, urging the committee to maintain the tempo so it has a success.