By: Mayen Etim
KADUNA, North-West, Nigeria – The Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD), Kaduna State Chapter, has given the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM) four days for immediate retraction, consideration and inclusion of Persons With Disabilities among the election monitors, observers and adhoc staff for the conduct of the local government election slated for 12th May 2018 failure which the Association said it will mobilize about 800 of it members for protest and boycott of the exercise
This is contained in a letter dated May 7, 2018 addressed to the Chairperson of SIECOM, signed by Suleiman Abdul-Azeez, Vice Chairman of JONAPWD and made available to the media on Thursday, May 10, 2018.
According to the letter, the United Nations General Principles under Article 3 of the Convention on the rights of Persons With Disabilities emphasize Non-Discrimination, full and effective participation, inclusion and equality of opportunity of PWDs in society including respect for the differences and acceptance.
The letter added that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander, saying it stands on the United Nations General Principles under Article 3.
“It will be recalled that at various engagement forums, workshops and seminars with electoral bodies and stakeholders toward an inclusive, accessible and transparent elections in Nigeria which SIECOM Kaduna is part and parcel, we are being assured of an inclusive system.
“It is in line with the and other roundtable meetings we had with INEC and SIECOM that we wrote the Commission on 3rd Agric 2018. In order to demonstrate her commitment, the Commission had two weeks ago directed us to submit the list of those members to be included which we did only for the same Commission to turn down the gesture at the eleven hour merely on security ground.
“This is against the agreed guidelines and principles of engagement of Persons With Disabilities in the electoral system in Nigeria which SIECOM is much Andrew, ” the letter reads.