The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau has cleared 490 aspirants to contest the primaries for Feb.17, 2018 local government election in the state.

The Chairman of the party in the state, Chief Damishi Sango, made this known at a news briefing on Friday in Jos.

According to him, 44 aspirants were cleared to vie for chairmanship while 446 were aspiring for the position of councilor under the party.

“We have screened and cleared in all, 490 aspirants to stand for the primary elections in preparations for the forthcoming local government election in the state.

“In specific, we have cleared 44 aspirants for chairmanship, and 446 for councilor positions.

“The screening process was transparent enough because we did everything in the open; there was no hide and seek game,” he said

The chairman said the party gave free forms to female aspirants and people with disabilities, as a way of promoting inclusiveness in the party.

He promised to ensure a level playing ground for all the aspirants, saying that the party would support all the candidates that would emerge from the primaries.

“We sold forms to everybody that indicated interest to contest; we didn’t deny anybody our forms. This shows how far we want to give everybody a level playing ground,” he added.

Sango also said that the party had given attention to the youths to enable them to actively participate and contest for positions in line with the “not too young run bill”.

The chairman explained that 98 per cent of the aspirants cleared were below 40 years, saying that the younger generation could now be properly mentored to assume leadership responsibilities.

He called on the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) to ensure that the council poll was free, fair and credible.

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Plateau council poll: PDP clears 490 aspirants for primaries