…Commends Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Umo Eno

The Chief Executive Officer/ Founder of TAF Africa, Mr. Jake Epelle has listed strategies that could get more persons living with disabilities elected into offices as he commends the performance of the governor of Akwa Ibom state, Mr. Umo Bassey Eno whom he described as a role model.

Mr. Epelle who spoke in an interview in Abuja said: “The performance of the Akwa Ibom Governor in office will influence how people react to People with Disability (PwDs). He is our role model. He is holding the highest office in the land from the community of persons living with disabilities, if he performs well, that is a credit to us. If he underperforms, it is also a discredit to us”.

With five months to the Ondo state Governorship Election where one PwD is on the ballot and about 43 months to the 2027 general elections, Mr. Epelle gave nuggets on how People with Disability could win elections in the country stressing that for as long as a candidate is people-oriented and not necessarily being a member of the political class, he or she would always emerge as a leader.

The inclusivity advocate listed things People with Disability need to do to win elections: “First, they need to belong to a political party. You need to understand the structure of the political party, and how they work, then prepare to win the primary of your party. Do your campaign after your primary. Make sure you have a structured agenda that can attract voters and hopefully and prayerfully, you will win the election. That is the beginning of your political leadership”.

According to him, winning the election is the beginning of one’s political leadership cautioning that after winning the election, one needs to stick to his or her agenda because that is what allowed one to win the election.

“Serve your people first with your interest coming last. In addition, have a monitoring and evaluation person who would monitor the implementation of your agenda and give you credible feedback and that is what will prepare you for future elections stressing that: “For as long as you are people-oriented and not necessarily being a member of a political class, you would always emerge as a leader. But emerging as a political leader is not the same as serving the people.

In December 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) in a report estimated that 35.1 million persons are living with disability in the country, a report that excites the inclusivity advocate.

His words: “Yes, of course, there is no doubt that we have the numbers. But don’t also forget that these are numbers, claimed numbers, of all communities of persons with disabilities. They have not told us how many of them are eligible to vote. It is not everybody in the community that will vote. Eligible voters,18 Years and above, we have been doing data gathering of persons with disabilities who are eligible to vote, so far, so good, as far as the last election by INEC, we have 86,000, but let me be very pointed here to say that that number is the only number of INEC data collation within the CVR exercise which was less than two years. It does not represent the actual number of eligible voters.

Mr. Epelle explained why the figure was not a true reflection of eligible voters in the community. Hear him: “Not because INEC didn’t do a good job, but they found a methodology that presented segregated data within the time and the space they work. There have been people who have registered previously. If you want me to project, I would project nothing less than a million and above who are registered voters with disabilities. I want to suggest that that may be the number, but it could be more, much more. But that brings me to the point we have been trying to make in TAF AFRICA; the need to have credible data. We must invest in credible data.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in its 2023 General Election Report explained inclusivity measures it took in the 2023 General Elections.

According to the electoral body, INEC in collaboration with civil society organizations such as TAFAFRICA and Inclusive Friends, identified registered voters with disability by state, type of disability, and Polling Unit across the country.

“This was to ensure that the commission deployed Assisted Voting Devices such as Magnifying glasses and Braille ballot guides in some of the off-cycle elections as well as in the General Election.

“These 15,771 magnifying glasses were deployed out of a total of 16,071 that were required in Polling Units across the country, while 5958 Braille ballot guides were deployed to Polling Units where they were needed across the country”, the report stressed.

But INEC’s effort at inclusivity may not be good enough for People with Disability as the EU-EOM Nigeria 2023 2nd Preliminary report explained that: ” CSOs representing persons with disabilities in several states expressed to the EU EOM a high level of dissatisfaction with INEC’s efforts at inclusivity, due mainly to absence or inadequate support of assistive materials. Ahead of the 18 March polls, EU EOM observers noted limited evidence of efforts to enhance or promote participation of Persons with Disability (PwDs) while PwDs were able to participate in INEC training for ad-hoc staff, very few were selected to serve”.