No fewer than 4,780 Internally Displaced Persons squatting in the Federal Capital Territory are yet to register or obtain the Permanent Voter Cards, less than six weeks to the general elections.
Investigations by our correspondent in Abuja on Thursday indicated that none of the IDPs has been registered contrary to the pledge by the INEC that it would ensure that the refugees who were displaced by Boko Haram, from their home states, were not disenfranchised.
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The IDPs expressed apprehension that they may not be able to vote during the elections, and appealed to the electoral commission to send its officials to register them at their temporary camps.
The displaced persons are presently staying at Church village, Area 1, Wassa community, Waru village and 30 estate in Peggi village, Kuje Area Council.
The FCT Emergency Management Agency had put the number of the IDPs at 4,780, saying it had carried out a biometric exercise on them and is planning to resettle them at a permanent camp to be built in Kuje, Abuja.
The Vice-Chairman of the displaced persons association at New Chingoro, Games Village, Abuja, Mathias Yakubu, said none of the 700 persons in his camp has been registered.
The 37 year old father of eight children who fled Gwoza, Borno State, following Boko Haram attacks, called on the INEC to muster men and materials to the camp so the people can register and vote.
“Though I have no interest in voting, but I think it is only right for INEC to ensure that those who are interested get registered so they can vote during the polls,” he said.
Another IDP, Musa Yakubu, 42, who got to the camp in December 2014, said that he was not able to register in Gwoza on account of the raging insurgency, adding that he narrowly survived an attack by Boko Haram gunmen.
Yakubu, who has a big scar on his belly, explained that he was hospitalized in Michika after he was shot, and from there, he moved to Jos, Plateau State and then to Abuja which he felt is safer.
Solomon John,23, who had spent two years at a temporary IDP camp, stated that he did not register because he had to go to Gwoza to evacuate his aged parents to a safer location.
He said, “We have not been registered by INEC, though we heard on the news that they would register us so we can vote, but this has not been done. I hope to register and get my PVC so I can vote like others during the polls.”
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