Ahead of the general election, the Albino foundation has expressed confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to achieve inclusivity in the coming election, with the assurance that Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) will participate fully in the electioneering process.

Mr Jake Epelle, the Executive Director and the founder of the Albino Foundation noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has shown commitment to ensuring that the PWDs are not disenfranchised in the coming general election.

Speaking on “Sunrise Daily”, a morning programme on Channels TV on Tuesday, Mr Epelle said the 2023 general elections will be the first election in Africa where there will be the deployment of data, science and technology to ensure the inclusion of PWDs into the voting process.

Stating the capacity and the significance of the PWDs community, Mr Epelle disclosed that the PWDs is holding 16 per cent of eligible voters in the country, and any politicians that fail to reckon with them might not be victorious in the elections.

He also explained the role of the Albino foundation in ensuring the participation of the PWDs in the election, stating that his organisation worked with INEC to collate data and to find suitable devices for the PWDs to have a seamless voting process in the coming elections

“ I can beat my chest and say that at the end of the day, we are going to have a truly inclusive election driven by science, driven by data, it would be accurate, it would be achievable and most importantly the community of persons with disability will be served”, he said.

“What we’ve been advocating for since 2017 when were challenged to provide data, we went to work to design a dashboard that will be able to pinpoint at each polling unit nationwide, where there will be clusters of persons with disabilities in their disaggregated manner, where you can find every segment of the community represented, recognising their needs and ensuring that their needs will get to where they are. This would be one election, the process of inclusivity that will be guided by science, that way we will be able to know exactly where the clusters of persons with disability are and how best to reach them.

“Let me say categorically in my opinion that well over 16 per cent of the entire electorates will be persons with disability, and also to say that any candidate that fails to pay attention to the community of persons with disability will lose this election because we have the numbers and numbers is what determines who wins at the elections.

“And we are prepared as a community to ensure that we reach every nook and cranny of this country, where persons with disability are and to ensure they get involved in the process that is why we launched our able to vote campaign, which is a nationwide campaign on voter education.

“We need a strategic voter education to reach the people we are targeting, not only that but ensuring that people that we are reaching will participate in the electoral process, the final result is how many participants will participate in the electoral process”, he stated.

Commending the INEC for its commitment to inclusivity in the coming elections, Mr Epelle said the electoral commission has been supporting the PWDs to have comprehensive data on eligible voters.

Indicating the preparedness of the electoral umpire, he further enlisted the devices the commission has acquired according to the provision of the electoral act, he stated the confidence of the PWDs in the INEC chairman and his doggedness towards the credibility of the elections.

“We are believing and trusting the process, I have implicit confidence in Profesor Mahmoud, his seriousness and doggedness to inclusivity. He has proven that he is not paying lip service to it, he is actually doing the job and the Albino Foundation will support INEC, we are the ones creating the dashboard guided by INEC data and we will be able to link our system with their system, of course giving them the opportunity to be in charge because of the security issues and we will work together to discover inclusive election.

“INEC is introducing magnifying glasses for persons with albinism and that is why because there is this provision, we have the greatest number of persons with disability, who are eligible voters and they are persons with albinism.

“Specific physical devices could come in form of braille paper and technology that you deplore to assist eligible voters with a disability to perform their franchise. The electoral act provides by law that INEC must provide these things, so INEC has acquired them”, he assured.