The candidates are for the forthcoming local government elections in the state.

The NDLEA Commander in Kano State, Dr Ibrahim Abdul, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Friday that the candidates were from 19 of the 44 local government areas of the state.

Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) has scheduled elections across the 44 local government areas for Jan. 16.

Abdul said the screening of the candidates for the positions of chairman, deputy chairman and councillors was in compliance with the state government’s order to ensure that no drug addict would be elected into any public office.

“I am glad to inform you that Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje had sent names of his appointed commissioners, assistants and advisers for similar screening before confirming their appointments.

“The Emirate Council has also been sending traditional title appointees for screening; therefore, we are always ready to screen any appointee sent to us.

“We have so far screened over 250 candidates both for the chairmanship, deputy chairmanship and councillorship positions.

“We found some of them with symptoms of drug abuse, we will not tell you their names or local governments.

“At the end of the exercise, we will write to the appropriate authorities for further actions,” the commander said.

Abdul appealed to residents of the state to continue to give the command the needed support to reduce drug abuse to the lowest level.