By Folorunso Alagbede, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Thursday, raised the alarm that the growing insecurity in several parts of the country and the increasing number of internally displaced persons will pose challenges to the conduct of the 2023 general election.
The Commission raised the alarm through one of its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education committee, Barrister Festus Okoye at a town hall meeting organised by the Nigerian Guild of Editors, in Abuja.
The Professor Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC stressed that the 2023 general elections will come with challenges, assuring however it is determined to surmount them (these challenges) with a view to conducting free, fair, credible and inclusive election.
The Commission noted with concerns that so many of the internally displaced persons are now in the houses of friends and relatives and have lost their Permanent Voters Cards, pointing out that and it is next to impossibility to recreate their constituencies and polling units.
Some of these internally displaced persons, INEC added, are no longer in their constituencies and can no longer access their polling units, while so many of them have lost their Permanent Voters Cards.
The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Voter Education committee however stated that it is important for the media to continue to highlight and analyze the causes and possible solutions to the security challenges in the country and continue to hold government accountable.
The various security agencies, he added, must try as much as possible to degrade if not neutralize the security threats and challenges in different parts of the country.
He emphasized that voting and the exercise of democratic mandate may not be the priority of persons enveloped in a climate and atmosphere of fear and anxiety.
According to Okoye, “The 2023 general elections will come with challenges and the Commission is determined to surmount these challenges and conduct free, fair, credible and inclusive election.
“Growing insecurity in several parts of the country and the increasing number of internally displaced persons will pose challenges to the conduct of the 2023 general election.
“So many of the internally displaced persons are in the houses of friends and relatives and have lost their Permanent Voters Cards and it is next to impossibility to recreate their constituencies and polling units.
“This is because section 47(1) of the Electoral Act clearly provides that “A person intending to vote in an election shall present himself with his voter’s card to a Presiding Officer for accreditation at the polling unit in the constituency in which his name is registered”.
“Some of these persons are no longer in their constituencies and can no longer access their polling units and so many of them have lost their Permanent Voters Cards.
“While it is easy to recreate constituencies and polling units in clustered camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP camps), it is next to impossibility to do so for persons staying in scattered locations.
“For the internally displaced, the Commission will print new Permanent Voters Cards for them and recreate their polling units in their camps and they will be eligible to vote in some of the elections depending on their location and their proximity to their State and Federal Constituencies.
