sitemaster The Plateau Debate Group has shortlisted six candidates for the live gubernatorial debate sheduled for 26th January, 2019. This much is contained in a press release signed by leader of the group, Dr Daniel Meshak. The full text of the press statement is as follows:
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE PLATEAU DEBATE GROUP (PDG) ON THE SELECTION OF CANDIDATES FOR THE 2019 GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE
You are aware that the Plateau Debate Group made a commitment to host a live debate for the candidates vying for the office of the Governor of our state. We also communicated that due to the limitation of time and space, we shall be unable to host all 22 candidates. For this reason, we embarked on a painstaking process of pre-qualifying the top contenders for the office.
Three criteria were used in this preselection process: the first criterion is the candidates' popularity on a Facebook poll opened from the 12 December to the 23 December 2018; the second criterion was the candidates' popularity in a field survey carried out in the three senatorial districts of the state; last, we also considered the incumbency factor as it is fair and natural that an incumbent should participate in a debate where several candidates are contesting for the office he occupies.
Following this rigorous process, we aggregated the scores of the candidates and have a shortlist of 6, listed alphabetically:
i. ABP – Samuel Dan-Auta Kyarshik
ii. ADP – Jon Temlong
iii. ANN – Alex Ladan
iv. APC – Simon Lalong
v. PDP – Jeremiah Useni
vi. SDP – Godfrey Miri.
Recall that we had initially communicated that we would host 4 candidates in this debate. We were constrained to expand this number to 6 because the final aggregate scores were quite close and it would have been difficult to exclude any of the top 6 candidates fairly. To accommodate this change, we have also negotiated for the debate to be aired for 3 hours, as against the earlier 2 hours proposed. It is our believe that this will give more time for a deeper, richer discussion.
In the days ahead, we shall be communicating these outcomes to the candidates and their parties officially. The debate is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 26th January, 2019.
As always, we can be reached on our social media handles –
Twitter: @plateaudebate
Facebook: www.facebook.com/plateaudebate
YouTube: Plateau Debate Group
Email: plateaudebate@gmail.com and info@plateaudebate.com
We thank the public for keeping faith with us.
Be assured of our fairness, responsiveness and accountability.
*Signed: Dr. Daniel Meshak*, 08069817644, 08064025778
29 December, 2018
On behalf of the Plateau Debate Group.
