{"id":26580,"date":"2022-10-19T12:59:07","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T12:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ndarason.com\/?p=26580"},"modified":"2022-10-19T12:59:07","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T12:59:07","slug":"reminder-to-politicians-disabled-peoples-votes-are-as-important-as-any-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/reminder-to-politicians-disabled-peoples-votes-are-as-important-as-any-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Reminder to politicians: Disabled people\u2019s votes are as important as any others"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disabled people in Borno State are tired of sitting back and not participating in politics \u2013 this time they have banded together and are determined to take part and have a say in next year\u2019s elections.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

At a meeting held on Monday, October 17, in Maiduguri, Muhammad Abubakar, a spokesman for people with disabilities told reporter Nana Hadiza Mustapha that most disabled people had, in the past, sat back and not taken an active part in politics. But this time they had decided to organise and take part in political gatherings to ensure they were represented and had a say in what was happening in the community around them.<\/p>\n

The meeting was attended by more than 100 people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Abubakar said: \u201cAs disabled people we have decided to go to political gatherings to ensure we are represented. We want disabled people to be recognised and be included, even becoming politicians if they want.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government has given us its backing. It understands we want to feel part of the community and we want to be heard. With more than 100 people attending this meeting, it is clear that people with disabilities want to be part of the general community. We need to talk to other people with disabilities to educate them about politics, our rights as disabled people, including representation in government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aim to bring change to the political climate because nothing like this has ever happened \u2013 this will be the first time disabled people like us have openly stated that we want to have a say in things and participate in decisions made by politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to rely on the public to help us. Now we feel we can contribute to the development of our societies. We have our permanent voter\u2019s cards and we want people with disabilities to use them. We are educating our families so that they can also take part in the elections.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Abubakar said all people with disabilities should be represented at all levels of government.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking the government to allocate more seats in government for the disabled as well as more jobs throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ya Hajja Batul said: \u201cWe felt empowered after the meeting. We know we have something to contribute to society and we want to be recognised for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the elections draw nearer, we know that politicians from all the parties will be giving speeches and telling the electorate what they can do to improve the lives of ordinary people,\u201d said Fanta Goni Adam. \u201cWe will be watching and listening to them. We would like to see which parties include a better life for disabled people, who is taking us seriously, who will provide schools and other institutions for people like us. Politicians must realise that our votes are just as important as abled persons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amina Muhammad said: \u201cWe are here to participate and contribute. We also have a part to play in society if we were only given the chance. We don\u2019t want to become the forgotten voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to vote and represent our society,\u201d said Aisha Modu. \u201cWe want to empower the disabled and do away with begging by providing secure jobs. There are many well educated people among us. All we want to do is to contribute to society. All we want is fair treatment.<\/p>\n

AISHA SD JAMAL<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disabled people in Borno State are tired of sitting back and not participating in politics \u2013 this time they have banded together and are determined to take part and have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":26214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26580"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}