Barely three weeks to the election, it still remains unclear whether the country’s internally-displaced Persons (IDPs) will vote or where they will even vote, writes Senior Correspondent, ISHAYA IBRAHIM.
On January 3, Boko Haram operatives massacred at least 2,000 residents of Baga, a fishing community in Borno State and occupied the town. Two months after the horror, the Nigerian military recovered it and many other towns from the terrorists.
The successes in the fight against the Boko Haram terrorists are being bolstered by the involvement of Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
Security in the North East has improved and many insurgents are being killed or apprehended. The region seems safer than February 14 and 28, the original dates for the poll which has been shifted to March 28 and April 11, analysts argue.
But the trend in the fight against the insurgents has led to a new debate: Whether the survivors of Boko Haram attacks, known as Internally-displaced Persons (IDPs), should be returned from their camps to their various communities ahead of the March 28 and April 11 elections?
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Kenneth Minimah, weighed in on the debate, arguing that since many towns have been recaptured from the terrorists, the IDPs could go home and vote.
“This is war and we will try and do whatever possible to liberate more areas so that displaced citizens can go and resettle, and possibly vote during the elections,” Minimah said.
There are over one million IDPs in at least 15 camps, or with relatives in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. Many other camps exist in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State and Yola, the capital of Adamawa State.
Minimah added that it was possible to cripple the terrorists within the six weeks period of the poll shift.
“It is achievable to end the Boko Haram activities very soon because we are still within the six weeks framework,” he said.
Boko Haram had been smoldering communities in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. In Baga, the terrorists came in the morning hours, surrounded the area and killed 2,000 persons, sending soldiers and civilians running for their lives. Witnesses said dead bodies of men, women and even children littered everywhere in the town.
The Baga attack was considered the bloodiest by the terrorists, causing social dislocation, economic deprivation and psychological trauma to the people. There was also the feeling of indifference on the part of the federal government as it took about 10 days before President Goodluck Jonathan uttered a word about the incident.
The Economist of January 17, 2015 had this to say about the government’s approach to the tragedy.
“President Goodluck Jonathan was quick to condemn the ‘monstrous’ terrorist attack against Charlie Hebdo in Paris. But by the time the magazine went to press, he had not uttered a word about Baga.
“His lieutenants argued that he cannot speak out because details of the attack are still hazy (it took the army more than a week to give a casualty figure amid international furore).
Tough decision for IDPs
Others note that atrocities like these happen on a near-daily basis.
“Baga is far from being unique,” the magazine observed.
So, asking the affected residents of Baga and other hitherto Boko Haram-infested communities to go back home for the purpose of election was untenable, critics of the government have argued.
Special Adviser to the Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima on Media, Isa Gusau, said the army chief could not have meant what he said, in asking IDPs to go back on such a short notice.
He said before such move could be discussed, the recovered communities must be cleared of possible air pollutants, landmines, poisonous drinking water among other things.
“It will be Governor Shettima’s greatest joy if all IDPs can return to their communities right away and live their normal lives which should include taking part in the general elections. But as things stand now, not all of the communities have been liberated so far.
“The communities that have been liberated have serious challenges that need to be addressed. We have this concern that insurgents have contaminated even water for drinking by dumping dead bodies into wells, destroying boreholes and what have you,” he said
IDPs express their fears
Fanta Sheriff, a mother of four from Monguno told a national newspaper, Daily Trust of her fears going back home.
“We all wish to go back to our houses but our predicament is our safety. The Boko Haram insurgents are still around in some hiding places. We are also afraid because we heard that they have planted mines in our communities,” she said.
Babagana Kultu, an IDP from Gomboru Ngala said he would rather not vote than to go back to his home town.
“I feel it is madness to say that we should go back to Ngala in the next one month or two… where do they want us to stay, on the trees?” he queried.
Yagana Abdallah, a Borno-based journalist, said the idea of moving IDPs to their communities for the purpose of election is sickening.
“We are talking about people who escaped death by the whiskers, who have been traumatised by the death of loved ones, who have lost their means of livelihood, who are depressed. Is it these people that you want to return to the same places where they suffered all these horrors?” he said.
INEC to the rescue?
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said its preparation to conduct elections in IDPs officially approved camps would go on in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, but that the decision might change if security reports indicate that the IDPs could go back home.
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Kayode Idowu, however, said the commission’s arrangement was limited to the three states. “This is the first time that Nigeria was attempting an arrangement of conducting voting at designated centres for IDPs. So, the commission cannot extend its capacity for now beyond arrangement in those states,” he said.
PDP kicks
But leaders of Borno chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have asked the federal government to stop the INEC from conducting elections at IDPs camps in the state.
The party said that there was nowhere in the constitution where it says elections should be conducted in IDPs camps and as such did not know the reasons for INEC’s distribution of PVC at the camps.
Spokesperson for the group Ibrahim Birma, said that they observed some anomalies going on in the IDPs camps which show an attempt to rig the election by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Birma wondered what becomes of all the IDPs from Borno who are at camps in Abuja, Lagos, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and the rest of the country.
“If IDPs must cast their votes during the 2015 elections, then what happens to those who fled the state due to insurgency? What explanation do they have regarding the constitution which says elections are to be conducted at polling units? I find this laughable,” he said.
He called on the federal government to ensure that everybody goes back to where he or she registered for the election, including the recaptured communities.
TheNiche gathered that PDP in Borno is concerned that if election is allowed to hold in the IDPs camps, the outcome may favour the APC governorship candidate, Shettima, who is also the state’s governor.
PDP candidate in the state, Mohammed Imam, faces the hurdle in his attempt to displace the incumbent.
The IDPs have their camps in Maiduguri, which the Borno government runs.
Godiya Waniyet, a journalist, observed that the government’s responsiveness to the welfare of the displaced persons has endeared them to Shettima. He also said that the failure of the PDP-led federal government to end the insurgency is a factor that could sway the votes to him.
But in a video released on February 17, Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, vowed to disrupt the general elections.
Said he: “This election will not be held, even if we are dead. Even if we are not alive, Allah will never allow you to do it.”
The threat is seen as further complication of the uncertain fate of IDPs in the elections.
