TAF Africa, a leading advocate for the rights and well-being of Persons with Disability in Africa (PWDs), has urged President Bola Tinubu to prioritize electoral reforms for enhanced democratic process.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting on the review and validation of a political inclusion index tool, the chief executive officer (CEO) TAF Africa, Mr Jake Epelle emphasized the need to address the issues that arose during the 2023 general election.
Mr Epelle maintained that electoral reforms were important to fixing electoral challenges and promoting a fair and inclusive electoral process.
The political inclusion index tool aims to assess the performance of various institutions involved in elections, including electoral management bodies, security agencies, political parties, and the media, in terms of inclusion for PWDs in their program.
TAF Africa Programme Manager, Mr Olayemi Samuel said the tool was significant to the promotion of inclusion and ensuring that all citizens have equal access to participate in the democratic process.
Mr Samuel stated that the call for electoral reforms became imperative in the light of recent attacks on the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) over its report on irregularities in Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential election.
“TAF Africa emphasized the importance of recognizing those flaws and work towards comprehensive electoral reforms for future credibility”, he said.
Contributing, Executive Director Network of Women with Disabilities (NWD), Lois Auta expressed satisfaction with the meeting and urged electoral umpires to take proactive steps to ensuring inclusivity in the nation’s political sphere.
According to Mrs Auta, the political index tool was imperative to see that issues of disability communities were prioritised in every institution.
“The NWD want accessibility to infrastructure and implementation of PWDs laws as well as human rights models achieved in the country”, she said.
