The Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CDD) has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prioritise voting by Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in
Imo governorship election.
The group’s Assistant Programme Officer in the State, Tosin Aniramu, said this while addressing newsmen.
Speaking after a road show in Owerri on Thursday, Aniramu said the exercise was organised by CDD, a Civil Society Organisation, in partnership with the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room with support from UK Department for International Development.
She said the roadshow sought to raise awareness on the rights of persons with disabilities in the electoral process and the role of the public in ensuring an inclusive process in the forthcoming election.
Aniramu said: “We demand priority consideration, no discrimination/exclusion of persons with disabilities, positive attitudes towards us as we go into this election.
‘’We call on INEC to ensure accessible polling units/booths, priority voting for PWDs, availability of election materials in accessible formats.
“We also urge capable ad-hoc and INEC officials, maximum safety and security of PWDs, and a functional disability desk manned with competent staff and sign language interpreters”.
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Also speaking, leader of the CDD Election Observer team, Florence Austin, highlighted the needs of PWDs in view of the election and overall governance in Imo.
“We also call for the domestication of the National Disability Act in Imo, mainstreaming of disability into government programmes and activities.
“We want inclusive governance and an enabling environment to allow persons with disabilities contest for political offices’’, she said.
Participants at the roadshow included representatives of different disability clusters including albinism and the physically challenged.
Others were: the blind, Spinal Cord Injury Association of Nigeria (SCIAN), Intellectual Cluster and Civil Society Organisations, as well as the Red Cross.
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has fixed Saturday, November 11 for the Imo governorship election.
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