By BONIFACE AKARAH

Disability advocacy groups have asked the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) to halt all planned activities by the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nigeria (JONAPWD-National), alleging that an October 2026 convention could proceed on an invalid constitutional foundation.

The demand was contained in a legal petition dated October 7, 2026, and addressed to the Executive Secretary of the NCPD, Chief Ayuba Burki Gufwan. The petition was signed by Lady Omotunde Ellen Thompson, Chief Eric Ndubueze Ufom and Brigadier General Dr. Lonsdale Oladeji Adeoye (Rtd.), who described themselves as leaders of the Pioneer's Ad Hoc Consortium and representatives of disability-focused civil society organisations.

The petitioners cited a subsisting Cross River State High Court judgment in Suit No. HC/336/2022, which they said declared the unapproved 2011/2014 JONAPWD constitution invalid.

They alleged that attempts by what they described as “illegitimate claimants” to stage an October 2026 convention would therefore amount to a violation of Nigerian law.

“In light of the subsisting Cross River State High Court judgment (Suit No: HC/336/2022) declaring the unapproved 2011/2014 constitution invalid, the ongoing attempts by illegitimate claimants to stage an October 2026 convention represent a willful violation of Nigerian law,” the petitioners said.

They urged the NCPD to order an immediate suspension of what they described as unauthorized JONAPWD proceedings and to freeze what they called compromised bank accounts.

The petitioners also requested the constitution of an Emergency Ad Hoc Committee chaired by Hon. Justice Ayade E. Ayade, with the participation of disabled judicial officers, lawyers and law enforcement representatives.

“We urge your office to order an immediate suspension of all unauthorized JONAPWD proceedings, freeze compromised bank accounts, and constitute the requested Emergency Ad Hoc Committee chaired by Hon. Justice Ayade E. Ayade,” they said.

The proposed panel, according to the petition, would include Her Worship Senior/Chief Magistrate Ifeyinwa Nasiah Okoye of the Anambra State Judiciary, whom the petitioners identified as blind, as well as lawyers and representatives of the ICPC, DSS and EFCC.

The groups said the NCPD, as the statutory regulatory body established under the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018, had obligations to protect the disability community from what they described as fraudulent governance and financial extortion.

They also demanded protection for what they described as the intellectual property and institutional legacy of the pioneers who they said had spent more than 27 years advocating for disability rights and helped establish the NCPD, the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 and JONAPWD-National.

The petitioners said the dispute had implications beyond the internal administration of JONAPWD, describing the protection of the disability community’s institutions and advocacy structures as part of their broader demand.

“As the surviving Pioneers who self-funded 27+ years of advocacy to establish the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 (DAPDA 2018), and Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities of Nigeria (JONAPWD-National and the entire Grassroots of Nigeria’s 36 States/FCT and 774 LGAs), we demand that our intellectual property and institutional legacy be protected,” they said.

The petitioners said they were acting in their official capacities as class representatives and as the Civil Society Organizations of Persons with Disabilities Independent Monitoring Mechanism under cited provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

They called for an emergency intervention to resolve what they described as a prolonged corporate governance crisis within JONAPWD-National.

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