Persons Living With Disabilities (PLWDs) drawn from the 31 local government areas of Akwa Ibom State have laid siege to the Government House, Uyo, the state capital, demanding the removal of the Personal Assistant (PA) to Governor Umo Eno, on Disability Matters, Comrade Ubong Ikpe, over alleged misappropriation of the N100 million intervention fund donated by government to support the physically challenged and indigent students.
To cushion the excruciating pains faced by the physically-challenged, LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered that Governor Eno had instituted a N100 million Education Intervention Fund (EIF) “to assist the physically challenged students of Akwa Ibom origin and other disabled students residing in the state, and studying in public tertiary institutions across the state.”
Governor Eno, it could be recalled, announced this when he granted audience to members of the National Association of Students with Disabilities (NANSWDs), University of Uyo chapter, led by the president, Comrade Emmanuel Wisdom, who were on a courtesy visit to the governor at Government House, recently.
The office of the accountant-general in liaison with the ministries of Education, Women Affairs and Social Welfare, as well as the office of the SSG, were mandated to oversee equitable disbursement of the funds as the governor had warned against any administrative bottleneck in the management of the money.
But dozens of the aggrieved beneficiaries, led by the PLWDs’ coordinator in-charge of the 31 LGAs, Comrade Ekerette Udoakpan, who stormed the Government House in protest, accused the governor’s aide on Disability Matters, Ubong Ikpe, of shutting out several members and shortchanging them in the process.
It took the intervention of some Government House security personnel manning the gate, to calm frayed nerves of the protesters, who had groaned that neither the governor, his deputy (Sen Akon Eyakenyi) nor the secretary to the state government (SSG), Prince Enobong Uwah, was present to address their grievances.
Vowing to occupy the Government House gate until the governor returns, Udoakpan maintained that they would stop at nothing to get justice as their future were on the verge of being mortgaged.
