Gusau (Zamfara) – No fewer than 25. 5million members National Association of People with Disabilities (JONAPWD), have urged the Federal Government to provide an alternative for thumb prints so that they could vote during elections.
Alhaji Shehu Sarkinfada, the National Public Relations Officer (PRO) of JONAPWD, and former National President of People Affected with Leprosy, made this call in Gusau, capital of Zamfara, on Thursday.
Sarkinfada spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that his members and no fewer than 7 million others affected with leprosy were also disenfranchised in previous elections because they had no thumbs.
He said that the use of thumb print for the issuance of the voter cards and the national identity cards was a clear discrimination against people affected with leprosy and amputees.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
This is because they had no means to thumb print, he said.
He lamented that despite the complaints lodged by the associations’ leadership, the affected people had been denied their right to possess voter cards, which prevented them from voting in 2015 elections.
“As Nigerians, we have the right to vote and be voted into any political office but it is unfortunate that we are denied that right,
“Nigeria is the only country we have to claim, we therefore deserve the right to be treated equally with all other Nigerians without any form of discrimination,” he said.
Sarkinfada, therefore, called on the Federal Government to look into the problems in order to find urgent solutions for the physically challenged. (NAN)