ANALYSIS: Sacked by bandits, IDPs fear they might lose voting rights

The excitement that dawned on their faces when they were approached to speak died the moment they started talking. Despite the killings and violence they experienced in their communities, internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain relentless in their desire to live and exercise their fundamental human rights.

In the past years, banditry and other disasters have forced many residents of Niger state to relocate from their homes to safer areas as internally displaced persons.

As Nigerians all over the country are preparing for the general election, the same readiness can’t be attributed to people living in areas plagued by violence, killings and other forms of insecurity.

WHAT HAPPENS TO IDPS DURING ELECTIONS?

Banditry in communities around Shiroro LGA of Niger – one of the north-central states in Nigeria — has forced many rural dwellers in the area to start living in the Central Primary School, Erena, a learning centre turned IDP camp.

While running from death, the only hiding place for Abdullahi Kandumi, a once-revered district head of Tungan Goro village, was the IDP camp in Erena.

Kandumi is now helpless watching his people live from hand to mouth. With no control over their fate, he does not know if his people will be able to participate in the general election.

The 43-year-old traditional head is worried for his people and the entire IDPs living in the camp. He is worried if they have the chance of partaking in the polls.

With over 1,000 IDPs, life in the camp, Kandumi said, is upsetting.

Even though a considerable number of the IDPs have acquired their permanent voter cards (PVC), according to the village head, TheCable understands that most of the displaced persons may not partake in the elections over security concerns in their registered polling units.

“We left our village because bandits chased us out of our homes. They killed most of our people. That was why I came down with all my family members to Erena town,” he said.

“Currently, we are not doing anything; even what to eat is a problem. A lot of us have registered and collected our voter cards to exercise our rights. As the traditional head of the town, a lot of people have been coming to me, asking if they will get to vote.

“Our polling unit is at Bassa ward. We will all have to return to Bassa if we want to vote. We can’t vote here; people are currently afraid. Even if I tell them to return to Bassa to vote, they won’t go because they are horrified about the bandits.

In Central Primary School Sarkin Pawa, Ahmadu Musa, one of the IDPs who fled Kuchi village in Munya area of Niger state, said most of the displaced persons are willing to vote if the government provides them with security.

Musa, a 50-year-old man with one wife and seven children, has been living in the IDP camp for the past three years.

“We can’t vote without security; anything can happen. It is the responsibility of the government to provide us with security. If we have security officials that can escort us to our polling units, we will go back to our wards and vote,” Musa said.

“If there is no security, we can never, in fact, we will never return to our villages to vote. Yes, my polling area is Kuchi. If there is no security, we are not voting.

“Even Sarkin Pawa town is not very safe, but we are appealing to the government to help us and bring our polling units down here or find a way for us to be registered here.

“I have collected my PVC. I registered and collected mine at the INEC office in Sarkin Pawa before the deadline for PVC collection was extended. What we did was that we mobilised ourselves to go and collect it.”

‘WE WANT INEC TO BRING OUR POLLING UNITS CLOSER’ 

Idris Madami is from Kushaku community, but he deserted the area following persistent attacks by bandits.

Returning to his village is not an idea Madami is looking forward to. He has since stopped worrying about returning home. The safety of his family is now his priority.

Madami, a 35-year-old man with two wives, said he is the only one who has a voter card in his family. His wives didn’t follow others to the village when they travelled to collect their PVCs.

“Some people from INEC visited some wards to issue out voter cards some months ago. We are only hoping that they will bring our ballot boxes here, and move our polling units to Erena town because it is safer here. We cannot return to Kushaku to vote when those wicked people are there waiting to kill all of us,” Madami said.

“If they don’t bring our ballot boxes here, honestly, I am not sure we can vote. I have my PVC. All we want is for the government to bring down our polling units here. After all this suffering we have passed through, I want to vote for a person Allah has ordained to treat us well.

The IDPs living across various camps in Munya LGA, who spoke with TheCable, expressed fear of returning home to vote.

Idris Shehu, chairman of the coalition of Munya association, said the IDPs in the host community are more concerned about their survival than voting.

According to him, most of them feel abandoned by the government and are unwilling to change their perception.

Shehu said the four IDP camps in Sarkin Pawa, headquarters of Munya LGA, have been fully occupied and congested as virtually all the villages on the road and around the town have been attacked by bandits and abandoned by its dwellers.

”Currently, some communities are empty. We don’t know how they are going to manage to vote honestly. We don’t know if INEC has any plan of bringing their polling units down to Sarkin Pawa town so that the IDPs can vote.” Shehu said.

INEC: IDPs WILL VOTE IN THEIR CAMPS 

Kabir Adamu, managing director of Beacon consulting limited and a security risk management expert, said INEC can also consider creating mobile polling units for IDPs to prevent them from being disfranchised during the election.

“The most desirable way is to deal with the bandits, take forceful action, either arrest them or disband them. That will prevent them from disrupting the election,” Adamu said.

“In other words, secure the location and prevent them from coming out to attack or disrupt the electoral process.

“In the case of Katsina, the resident electoral commissioner announced that he is going to adopt what is called mobile polling units. Those mobile polling units will be stationed in a safe location. The same thing with Zamfara, they will now provide vehicles that will move the IDPs affected to those mobile polling units to vote and then take them back after voting.”

Arthur Adzape, INEC head of voter education and publicity in Niger state, said provisions have been made by the commission to shift some polling units to IDP camps to enable displaced persons to partake in the election.

“We have already concluded plans that there will be voting for IDPs,” he said.

“Five local governments are affected and I think the total population of 155,000 people is involved. So, what we will do is move the polling units from where they were residing before to where they are residing now. So, they will still vote as if they were in their communities.

“We have been talking with the security agencies and they agreed that they are going to provide security for them at the IDP camps where they are residing.”