Buhari appoints visually impaired Samuel Ankeli as his special adviser on disability

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has appointed the first disabled person to his government when he named visually impaired Dr Samuel Inalegwu Ode Ankeli as his senior special assistant on disability.

 

According to Mallam Garba Shehu, President Buhari's spokesman, Dr Ankeli’s would be responsible for the presidency's dealings with persons living with disability. He added that Dr Ankeli headed the Directorate of Persons with Disability of the Buhari/Osinbajo APC Presidential Campaign Headquarters, the first such department in a political party in Nigeria.

 

In this role, Dr Ankeli was said to have successfully mobilised millions of disabled persons in Nigeria to vote for the incumbent government. Dr Ankeli, who hails from Benue State went to school in Giwa, near Kaduna before studying veterinary medicine at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

 

“He worked with the Benue State government before quitting to give time to his activist role in the promotion of the wellbeing of the blind and people with all kinds of disability. He leads a very active religious and sporting life. He is married and has children," Mallam Garba added.