More than one thousand persons with disabilities (PWDs) are poised to participate in the upcoming November 8 governorship election in Anambra State.

This statement was revealed by the state’s chapter of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD).

The Chairman, Comrade Ugochukwu Okeke, disclosed during the association’s recent quarterly meeting held in Amawbia, Awka South Local Government Area.

Okeke stated that members across the state have been comprehensively sensitised and trained to not only cast their votes correctly but also to participate actively in the entire electoral process.

“We have done a lot of sensitisation and educated our members on the proper way to vote to avoid invalid votes,” Okeke said.

“With the population we have in Anambra, we expect over one thousand persons with disabilities to vote. They all have their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and understand how to cast their votes properly.”

The JONAPWD Chairman commended the State Office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Queen Elizabeth Agwu, for adopting inclusive measures to ensure the full participation of PWDs.

He noted that INEC had involved persons with disabilities at various stages, including voter registration, training, and voter education.

He highlighted the provision of assistive devices such as Braille ballot guides for the visually impaired, binocular lenses for persons with albinism, and pictorial posters for the deaf.

“Under the leadership of REC Agwu, our collaboration has greatly improved,” Okeke said. “For the forthcoming election, they started early, involving us right from the voter registration phase and inviting us to various trainings.”

He revealed that during a recent INEC workshop, members were introduced to the assistive devices. “Our visually impaired members touched Braille ballot papers for the first time and were taught how to use them,” he added.

Despite the progress, Okeke expressed concern that members who use crutches or wheelchairs might face challenges accessing polling units due to the restriction of vehicular movement on election day.

He appealed to the relevant authorities to grant special mobility passes or make arrangements to enable PWDs to reach their polling units easily.

In separate remarks, JONAPWD officials, including the Publicity Secretary, Chidimma Ajemba, and the Woman Leader, Nwanokwara Ncheta, cautioned members against spreading fake news and misinformation, warning that such acts could endanger the safety of PWDs during elections.

They also urged members to shun vote-buying and instead demonstrate integrity by turning out en masse to vote for their preferred candidates.

The National Assembly, ahead of 2027, is proposing that the presidential and gubernatorial elections should be conducted in November 2026, as opposed to in February or March of the election year.

The proposal, as contained in the draft copy of various amendments being sought in the 2022 Electoral Act, seeks that elections into the two offices should be conducted not later than 185 days before the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent, which is May 29.

The proposed amendments, which came to the fore on Monday during a one-day public hearing held by the joint committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives on electoral matters, also contained other far-reaching amendment proposals.

This is even as many of the stakeholders who made presentations at the public hearing demanded electronic voting and transmission of election results.

Section 4(7) of the proposed amendment states, “Elections into the office of the President and Governor of a State shall be held not later than 185 days before the expiration of the term of office of the last holder of the office.”

Calculation of the 185 days before May 29, 2027, clearly shows that the election must be conducted in November 2026, since the number of days from May 28, 2027, to December 1st, 2026, is 180 days.

For the federal and state legislators, Section 4(5) of the proposed amendment to the 2022 Electoral Act states, “Election into the State Houses of Assembly and the National Assembly shall be held not later than 185 days before the date on which each of the Houses stands dissolved.”

In unlocking the constitutional impediments against the amendment, the joint committee states in the draft copy, “Section 28, now section 27 (5-7), was introduced due to the amendments to sections 76, 116, 132 & 178 of the Constitution, which seek to remove the determination of election timeline from the Constitution to the Electoral Act.”

The proposed amendment seeking the conduct of an election six months before the expiration of the tenure of the incumbent, as explained by the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Adebayo Balogun, aims at giving enough time for the disposal of election litigations before the swearing in of declared winners.

According to him, section 285 of the 1999 Constitution will be amended just as section 139 will also be amended.

“To ensure that all manner of election litigations are dispensed with before the swearing in of winners, we are proposing an amendment that will reduce 180 days of tribunal judgement to 90 days and 90 days expected of judgement by the appellate court to 60 days up to the Supreme Court, which will all not exceed 185 days “.

Other far-reaching amendment proposals being sought by the joint committee are early voting, contained in section (2) of the draft bill.

It states: “There shall be a date set aside for early voting not later than 14 days to the day of the election.

Categories of Nigerians listed for the pre-poll are security personnel, officials of the commission, accredited domestic observers, accredited journalists and ad-hoc staff of the commission.

Other proposed amendments are mandatory electronic transmission of election results, non-compulsory use of a permanent voters card, etc.

The proposed amendment, as contained in Section 60(5) of the Electoral Act, also seeks to ensure compulsory electronic transmission of results.

“The Presiding Officer shall transmit the results, including the total number of accredited voters, to the next level of excuses both electronically and manually, just as it criminalises the failure of the Presiding Officer or Collation Officer who distributes unstamped ballot papers and results sheets.

Such erring officers will be jailed for one year or pay a fine of N1m or both.”

All the stakeholders who made presentations at the public hearing, including representatives of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Professor Abdullahi Zuru, aligned with the joint committee’s proposals.