Persons With Disabilities in Osun State have thrown their weight behind the reelection of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress and incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola.
Oyetola faces an uphill task of defeating the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ademola Adeleke, in his quest to return for a second term in office on Saturday.
A number of the PDP big wigs including the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, had on Thursday, stormed the state, where they charged voters to vote for Adeleke and wait to monitor their votes on Saturday.
In a statement issued on Friday, the APC National Leader of Persons Living with Disabilities, Tolu Bankole, disclosed that Oyetola had earned the admiration and trust of the PWDs community due to his people-oriented programmes and initiatives since 2018.
Bankole stated that the decision to endorse the governor was carefully taken after extensive deliberations among the various PWDs clusters in the party.
He said, “Among the 15 candidates on the ballot in this election, he is the only one that can defend our interest. His various empowerment initiatives ranging from the health insurance scheme; welfare and and employment programs have endeared us the PWDs.
“We have no doubt that his second term in office will benefit us more in the areas of economic emancipation and inclusion of Persons With Disabilities.”
The PWDs from all clusters within the party and other political parties, who were represented at the meeting which held at the ZEBAF Hotel in Osogbo, promised to match their words with action by voting for the APC on Saturday.
The APC national leader of Persons Living with Disabilities had on July 1 urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to address the plight of visually-impaired voters ahead of the Osun governorship election by providing braille ballots and dedicated polling units for the vulnerable in society.
Bankole made the call at a voter education and sensitisation training held in Osun State for people who were struggling with poor eyesight on the use of braille ballots ahead of the election.
Pundits have projected that the governorship contest slated for July 16 would be a straight battle between the incumbent Governor Oyetola of the APC and Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP.
To further highlight the importance of the poll, the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, had charged the 86-man campaign council for Osun 2022 to win at all costs.
Adamu warned during their inauguration that the National Working Committee under his leadership had zero-tolerance for failure.
