7 Disabled Aspire For Councillorship, State Assembly

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No fewer than nine persons living with disabilities are aspiring for various elective positions in the forthcoming 2011 elections in Plateau.

Mr. Joseph Dakup, President, Plateau State Chapter of the Joint Association of Disabled People, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Jos that the disabled were now organising themselves at the grassroots to contest elections from councillorship to the Presidency.

He said: “We are not only mobilising; we have told them to contest because the disabled does not have a society of their own; we are part of the society. So, we are contesting in the society we belong.

“We have two disabled contesting for Plateau House of Assembly; we have six contesting for councillorship. So, we are working, we are encouraging the disabled to go and contest,” he said.

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Dakup said that the association had told its members not to accept to step down for anybody and that they should not allow anybody to step down for them “out of pity.’’

He explained that their members were encouraged to contest for legislative positions where they could go and make laws that would benefit the disabled.

“If I am making the law as a disabled, definitely the law must have respect for me. So, it is not that we must be treated equal but we are saying that persons with disabilities must be treated with more respect than “the so-called physically-fit Nigerians.”

He regretted that some of its members were not financially-buoyant to purchase the nomination forms, saying that the high cost of the forms had become impediments for their aspirations.

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