A coalition of people with disabilities (PWD) under the guise of the Northern Nigeria Disability Forum (NNDF) has cautioned President Bola Tinubu against excluding PWDs from ministerial and other political appointments.

The NNDF threatened to invoke a law enacted in 2018 under the Muhammadu Buhari administration, which mandates that five per cent of all political appointments be allocated to people with disabilities.

Yerima Suleiman, the National Chairman of the NNDF, emphasized during a press conference in Abuja that their recourse to legal action is aimed at safeguarding their constitutionally guaranteed rights.

“We will approach the court to interpret the law. The 2018 law signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari makes it mandatory that 5 percent of the appointments be allocated to persons with disabilities,” he said.

“So that is why we felt we don’t have any representative in all the political appointments made so far. So that is why we planned to approach the court to help us interpret the law made by the former President.

“We are therefore not in support of the swearing-in ceremony of the ministers. Some persons might want to say that but there was a commission created to cater for persons with disabilities.

“That doesn’t affect the 5 per cent allocation of political appointments for the persons as contained in the law,” Suleiman stated.