#EdoDecides2024: PWDs encounter difficulty locating polling units in Oredo

Some Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in Oredo Local Government Area (LGA) encountered difficulties in locating their polling units in Saturday’s Edo governorship election.

A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent covering the election observed the issue at two different wards in the LGA, where four voters on wheelchairs struggled to find their polling units.

NAN reports that the PWDs and their aides could neither speak nor understand English or Pidgin, leaving them stranded at the wrong polling units.

They were only able to show their voter cards, which enabled other voters to redirect them to the correct units.

At George Idah Primary School, Oredo Ward 2, which hosts units 2, 4, 5, 34, and 39, a voter on a wheelchair was found but was supposed to vote at a different unit outside the school.

Similarly, another PWD who could not communicate in English was found at Ward 4, Unit 19, Emokpia Primary School. However, her voter’s card indicated that she was assigned to vote at Idia College.

Reacting to the situation, Ann Ojogu, Edo State Chairperson of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), expressed regret over the challenges faced by the PWDs.

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Ms Ojogu noted that the association had expected the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct voter education for PWDs in their various local dialects.

She also lamented that JONAPWD could not sensitise the different clusters of PWDs using local dialects due to financial constraints.

“Lack of funding was a challenge for us to go around the state and provide voter education in local dialects,” she said. (NAN)