IDPs ’ll vote in Borno, Yobe camps –INEC

The Independent National Elec­toral Commission (INEC) has as­sured that displaced per­sons in Borno and Yobe states with Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) will be allowed to vote at the various Internally Dis­placed Persons (IDPs) camps in the states.

INEC National Commis­sioner in charge of Borno, Bauchi and Yobe states, retired Colonel Mohammed Hammanga, who disclosed this yesterday, while brief­ing journalists in Maidu­guri, said INEC was aware of the challenges of the displaced persons and was determined to ensure no eli­gible voters at IDPs camp was disenfranchised.

“I have come here to see the state of preparedness of INEC. I came some weeks back and found the IDPs camps are all secured. The displaced persons are okay for these general elections in Borno and Yobe states.

“Our electoral officers from various local govern­ment areas of Borno, are already in the designated IDPs camps, representing these council areas and they have their PVCs with them. The electoral officers are also running their tempo­rary offices, as long as we continue to be ready for the 2015 general elections in this state,” he disclosed.

The INEC commissioner said polling units would be available for the IDPs at their camps to exercise their civic responsibility. “Some of the displaced persons who are not living in camps are also around. The only way to make sure they are not disenfranchised, be­cause of their displacement by Boko Haram insurgency is to create a place to do the voting,” he added.

He commended the way the IDPs camps were or­ganised by the federal and state emergency agencies and the efforts of the secu­rity agencies, which have been providing security around the camps.

Commenting on the distribution of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in the areas, he said the cards were distributed to regis­tered voters in phases. He assured that those who are yet to get their PVCs earlier would collect them before election day.

“We have printed a lot of these cards; and many of them have come. Yes­terday (Thursday) 50 cartons arrived here in Maiduguri, and they have been distributed to the electoral officers.

But, we are still expect­ing more today (Friday) or tomorrow (Saturday), they sent vehicles to car­ry the balance,” he said, adding that not less than 1.4 million out of 1.9 million registered voters have so far collected their PVCs.