People with disability seek electoral relevance
The
President of the Association for Comprehensive Empowerment of Nigerians
with Disability, Mr. Cosmos Okoli, on Wednesday said that its members
had resolved to participate more actively in future elections.
Okoli said ASCEND had consequently
resolved to endorse candidates that it believed would cater for members’
interests and mobilise support for them.
He said people with disability in
Nigeria had been generally neglected, in spite of their efforts to make
their impact felt in the society.
“Persons with disability in Nigeria have
been crying against marginalisation in the scheme of things. We have
carried out peaceful demonstrations, picketed banks, got senators to
experience disability by convincing them to live a day on wheelchairs,
while some were blindfolded for a day,” he said.
He added that although the lawmakers
experienced a bit of what people with disability go through, the
attitude of government and of the generality of Nigerians had not
changed towards persons with disability.
“Has anyone wondered why Nigerians with
disability remain the poorest of the poorest and why there has not been
any person with disability elected or appointed into any high political
office in Nigeria? Certainly, it is not because we do not have persons
with disability qualified to hold such offices. This can only be
attributed to stigmatisation, and discrimination we suffer in this
clime,” he explained.
Okoli added that in the light of the
situation, ASCEND had decided that, starting this year’s Anambra State
governorship election, it would mobilise votes for candidates it
believed would champion their cause.
“In line with the theme for the 2013
International Day of Persons Living with Disability, which says, ‘Break
Barriers and Open Door: To Realise an Inclusive Society for All’, ASCEND
has resolved to make votes of persons with disability count in all
elections,” he said.
September 12, 2013 by Sodiq Oyeleke
http://www.punchng.com/news/page/4/
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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