Buhari picks visually-impaired man as special assistant

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Samuel Inalegwu Ode Ankeli, a visually-challenged man, as his senior special assistant on persons living with disability.

According, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, Ankeli headed the  directorate of persons with disability at the Buhari/Osinbajo APC presidential campaign headquarters – the first of any such department in a political party in Nigeria.

“He led a team that successfully mobilised a large number of the more than 24 million disabled persons in the country to support the APC candidate and his running mate in the 2015 presidential election campaign,” Shehu said in a statement issued on Monday.

“Dr Ankeli hails from Benue State. He went to school in Giwa, near Zaria and Kaduna before reading 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.”