Ahead of the 2023 elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission is planning to set up voting centres for over two million Internally Displaced Persons across the country.
The voting centres will be sighted in IDP camps.
Findings from the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development indicate that many of the IDPs are living in Borno, Zamfara, Benue, Nasarawa and 23 other states.
The IDPs were displaced from their communities and ancestral lands by Boko Haram insurgents, armed herdsmen and bandits, natural disasters and other emergencies.
The Chairman, Board of Survey and Technical Committee on Equipment Acquisition, INEC, Mohammed Haruna, confirmed to The PUNCH on Monday that the commission was working on setting up voting centres for the displaced persons to ensure that no one was disenfranchised in 2023.
But responding to inquiries from one of our correspondents on the plans for the IDPs for the 2023 election, Haruna explained that with the spread of insecurity across the country, INEC would conduct elections in IDP camps where they still exist, but would adopt a different approach for the internally displaced persons living in communities.
Although the INEC official did not give the number of IDPs that will be affected, findings by The PUNCH indicate that about two million IDPs in camps and communities may fall into this category.
He stated, ‘’The issue of people voting in IDP camps is complicated. When insecurity was essentially restricted to the North-East ahead of the last general elections in 2019, it was easy to create IDPs camps. This time, however, many of the camps in the North-East and the few elsewhere have closed and most of the displaced persons are dispersed inside communities away from where they registered.
‘’Besides, insecurity has now spread nationwide. We will conduct elections in IDP camps where they still exist. But for the internally displaced persons living in communities, we need a different approach. We will do our best to see that no one is disenfranchised.’’
The PUNCH reports that the electoral commission designed “a special voting regime” and procedure for internally displaced persons in the North-East and other victims of natural disaster, insecurity, land disputes and other emergencies in 15 states during the 2019 elections.
The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, had disclosed then that voting modalities were established for 930,000 IDPs in Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Edo, FCT, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau, Taraba and Yobe states.
“These displacements are the result of insurgency, farmers/herders’ clashes, land disputes, banditry, natural disasters and other emergencies.
“It is estimated that there are around 930,000 IDPs in Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Edo, FCT, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau, Taraba and Yobe. INEC has classified the IDPs by location, surveyed their voter registration status and designed a special voting regime and procedure for them,” Okoye had said.
Officials of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, confirmed on Monday that about 3.2m IDPs are in the country. This includes children and infants. According to analysts, eligible voters among the number may not be less than two million IDPs.
