Chike Okogwu, Founder and Chief Responsibility Officer, Centre for Ability, Rehabilitation and Empowerment (CARE), has threatened that he and other people living with disabilities will shut down the country on December 3, 2023, if President Bola Tinubu fails to appoint one of them into his cabinet.

During an interview on Arise News on Friday, Okogwu said it was not enough for Tinubu to sign the Instrument of Ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Nigeria. He said many past governments had signed laws to protect the rights of PWDs but not enough had been done to include them in governance.

Tinubu signed the charter on Thursday, five years after the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly adopted it.

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Okogwu faulted the president for not considering PWDs amongst his over 40 ministerial appointees.

“December 3 is around the corner,” Okogwu said. “I am not threatening anybody, but if by December 3, we do not get any appointments, we will shut down this country. There are 30 million of us.”

He further said not every disabled person was born with a disability. Sharing his story, Okogwu said he suffered an injury to his spine on December 15, 2006.

“I expect the president, with his age, to understand the PWDs more, because disability can come later for some people,” he said.