By Ishaq Dan-Imam, Lokoja
Kogi APC Disability Campaigns Network, a coalition of politicians with disabilities in Kogi State, north central Nigeria, has inaugurated Tinubu/Ododo Campaign team to canvass votes for re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo in the forthcoming presidential and governorship elections in 2027.
At the inaugural ceremony of the leadership of the PWDs campaign network in Lokoja, on Wednesday, Director-General of the Kogi APC Disability Campaign Network (KAD-CAN-WIN For Tinubu/Ododo 2027) Hon. Yakubu Abdulhakeem Nazir, said beyond voting in elections, persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the state have mobilised the PWDs and their families, friends and relations across political divide to re-elect Tinubu and Ododo, as both the Tinubu presidency and Ododo governorship have had measurable impact on lives of persons with disabilities, through the disability-friendly policies in governance.
Nazir said the disability community in the state, as an active political group with significant electoral value, has shifted its political sloganeery from ‘political inclusion’ to ‘political participation’ to reflect renewed political commitment to political leadership and governance at all levels. Nazir noted that the disability community in the state has great men and women of political substance who can deliver electoral victory for the governing APC and its various candidates with massive numerical strength.
“As we formally inaugurate the Kogi APC Disability Campaign Network, I call upon every executive member, every stakeholder, and every member of this network to understand the enormous responsibility that lies before us. This network must not exist merely in name. It must become an active and effective political structure.
“Let us take the message of inclusion, unity, progress, and responsible political participation to every ward, every Local Government Area, and every senatorial district across Kogi State by organising,
mobilising, educating, and encouraging the electorate to vote for APC in all elections.”
The Director General urged the APC leadership in state to involve persons with disabilities in all campaign activities from the state level to the Senatorial Districts, from the Local Government Areas to the wards, insisting that the APC leaders in the state and local government level should carry persons with disabilities along, “by engaging us; listening to us; consulting us; involving us in all campaign programmes and giving us a seat at the table.”
In his words, “If election is a game of number, we have a huge number of active politicians, party loyalists, voters, families, politically-inclined activists and political rights campaigners fully working with over one hundred thousands PWDs voters across the state in support of the electoral fortunes of the APC, which has brought ‘good fortune’ to PWDs and their families in Nigeria, particularly in Kogi state, with the array of political opportunities.
People may ask us: Why APC?
“Since the return of democracy in 1999, the All Progressives Congress has demonstrated a deliberate and practical commitment to the inclusion of persons with disabilities in governance and national development. it was under an APC-led Federal Government that the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018, was signed into law, providing a major legal framework for the protection, inclusion, dignity, and advancement of persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
“But our story does not end at the national level. Here in our dear Kogi State, the commitment to disability inclusion was further demonstrated under the administration of the former Governor, His Excellency Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, CON, who replicated this commitment within the state and took steps towards establishing the Kogi State Office for Disability Affairs as an important institutional platform for advancing disability inclusion,” Nazir noted.
While appreciating the APC administrations in the state for giving political consideration to the community of persons with disabilities in Kogi State in the past decade, the Director-General expressed satisfaction with the level of political patronage extended to the PWDs in APC, adding that “much is given to us and we must give much more to the Tinubu and Ododo administrations.
” It is under the APC-led administration in Kogi State that persons with disabilities began to receive greater recognition in the area of political inclusion and participation,” Nazir expanciated.
Speaking at the inauguration, Senior Special Assistant to governor Ahmed Usman Ododo on disability matters, Hon. Mukaila Sheidu said the Kogi State government is building a comprehensive database of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the 21 local government areas of the state to enhance government intervention programmes for the members of the disability community in state just as the state government intends to improve economic planning for general wellbeing of the state.
Secretary of the campaign network, Ibrahim Daniel Arome, said the PWDs in Kogi state would give over one hundred thousand votes to Tinubu in the forthcoming presidential election.
The highlight of the inauguration was the presentation of appointment letters to the members of the campaign network and goodwill messages by the patrons and PWDs leaders in the State, including famous PWD politicians in the state Joash Femi Onimayin and Solomon Yahaya, who lauded the initiative as the right political move by the disability community in the State.
