In an act of defiance over the delay in the implementation of the Persons with Disability Discrimination Prohibition Act, a group of disabled people barricaded the office of Gboyega Oyetola, the governor of Osun State, on Wednesday.
By sitting at the entrances, people with impairments took up residence in the governor’s and his deputy Benedict Alabi’s offices.
The Osun State chapter of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities organized the demonstrators, who sang a variety of songs of solidarity and asked that no one leave the demonstration area until the governor guaranteed them that the Disability Act would be put into effect.
When the demonstrators entered their offices, it was reported that both the governor and his deputy were not there.
“We are not objects of pity, we have rights,” “Disability rights are human rights,” “We ask Osun State Government to Domesticate National Disability Act,” “Show Commitments to Disability Rights,” and “UNCRPD Article 5: Equality & Non-discrimination” were among the slogans on the protesters’ placards.
The group’s general secretary, Aghanti Smith, pleaded with the state governor to sign the disability bill as he addressed to the media on behalf of his colleagues.
He declared, “We want the governor to sign the law today.
“We are pleading with the Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola-led state government to permit the passage of this measure.”
Mr. Smith clarified that after the state government declined to recognize their letters, the disability group organized the rally to demand action.
“The goal of organizing this nonviolent demonstration is to convey to the Osun State Government our desire for their names to be inscribed in gold. Our counterparts in many other Nigerian states have begun reaping the benefits of this disability law, but not in Osun,” he remarked.
“We’ve written a ton of letters and spoken to them both privately and in public, but no one has responded. To ensure that our opinions are heard, we came together for this peaceful demonstration.
When speaking to the demonstrators on behalf of the state government, Olowogboyega Oyebade, the State Head of Service, promised that the state would discuss the Disability Act at the following executive meeting.
“Everyone in the government, including Mr. Governor and the Justice Commissioner, adores you. You stated that your measure should be given to the executive, so I want to inform you that your bill will be presented at the upcoming state exco meeting.
“Now that you want your disability bill to become law, I must inform you that it might not be true that the justice commissioner has delayed your bill; no, he cannot do that; it must have been one assignment or another he is now working on.
“Nobody can delay it, and the Commissioner has not behaved in this administration in a delay-prone manner. He has always been honest, so I have no doubt that no one in this administration will be able to simply sit on anything.
IMAGES BELOW
About Author
