No fewer than 70 persons living with disabilities stormed the Ughelli North Local Government Area secretariat in Delta State and locked up the entrance gate to protest the non-inclusion of its members into the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) by the council boss.
The physically challenged persons under the aegis of Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Ughelli North chapter, who took the secretariat by surprise prevented the council staff and visitors from gaining access into the secretariat, recently.
The Ughelli North Chairman of JONAPWD, Ernest Igbuzor, spoke to journalists during the protest said it was disheartening and appalling to allow them to go through the stressful protest to agitate what is dully their right.
Igbuzor noted that the SURE-P programme was designed by the Federal Government to engage the women, youths and the physically challenged persons, stressing that what the Ughelli North council boss did with the fund was to empower his political loyalists living them behind.
He maintained that the protest would continue, stressing that the council boss failed them in several ways after assuring the group that he has them at heart.
Also, the secretary of the group, Obuks Muoboghare, said they decided to embark on the protest due to the continued failure of the Mr. Akpoyibo Friday-led administration of the council toward their plight.
He held that N1.5 million was approved by the local government executive for JONAPWD, adding that for the chairman to release the money for them since May 2013 till date became a problem to the chairman of council, Muoboghare said.
The Ughelli Local Government Transition Committee Chairman, Mr. Friday Akpoyibo, when contacted on phone said why they were not included was due to paucity of fund.
He promised to carry them along when the Federal allocation to the council improves, urging the JONAPWD members to be law-abiding.