Persons With Disabilities Urge Damagum To Retract Comment

The All Progressives Congress (APC), North East zonal leader for Persons Living With Disabilities, Yobe State Chapter, Comrade Mohammed Abba Isa, has expressed displeasure over the comments by the deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ambassador Umar Damagum on their person.

Ambassador Damagum has during a campaign rally in Maiduguri on November 8, 2022, attended by PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, askd “if one is giving a choice to elect between a disabled person and a non-disabled person, who will the people choose?”

In a statement, Comrade Isa described the comment as very offending and threatened to sue the PDP deputy chair if he fails to tender an apology within seven days..

According to him, there are about 31 million Nigerians with disabilities and viewed Ambassador Damagum’s statement as an insult, disrespectful and discriminatory against Persons with Disabilities in line with the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Prohibition Act, 2018 and Section 52 of Electoral Act and United Convention for the right of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) which Nigeria is signatory.

He described the comment as, “lack of sympathy to our plight as PWDs. It’s our understanding that you are calling for discrimination against us at the time when the whole world is behind us praying for our inclusion.

I want to use this opportunity to tell you that, you are calling for our exclusion as if our predicament is our making. If disability is a product, no one will buy it from market and nobody is immune because disability can happen at any time.”

While emphasizing that, the comment is unacceptable, the association gives Ambassador Damagum seven days from the date of the press release to retract the statement and tender apologies to entire Persons Living With Disabilities in the North-East in particular and the world in general, which must be in two national newspapers in Nigeria.

According to him, failure to do so would lead to a court action with the mandate of members.