The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has raised a task force on how to get people displaced in different parts of the country to vote in the February 2015 general elections.
There are about 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in Nigeria, according to the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees, UNCHR.
They are mostly from the three insurgency-ravaged states in the North East region of the country, namely Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, but are scattered in about 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused an unnamed political party of engaging in buying Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs, with a view to disenfranchising the owners of such cards, especially in opposition strongholds.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said while such purchased PVCs may not be transferable, those who are buying them are doing so to reduce the votes in the opposition strongholds and improve the chances of their own party at the polls.
“We appeal to our supporters in particular and all Nigerians in general not to sell their PVCs, because this will amount to mortgaging the future of their children just because of a paltry 1,000 Naira,” it said. “Your voter’s card is your power to help forge the much-needed positive change in our country. Protect it!”
Following the reported abduction of 185 women by the members of the Boko Haram insurgents in Gumsuri, a community north of Chibok, the military has deployed ground forces and air force helicopter gunships to patrol the area.
Reports had claimed that the insurgents, who attacked Gumsiri, killed 32 men and abducted no fewer than 185 women and children last Sunday.
However, a statement on the Defence Headquarters blog on Friday, stated that the military had not been able to verify the reported abductions by the insurgents although the statement confirmed that some people were killed.
A former Governor of Lagos State and national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on Friday berated the Federal Government for what he described as failure of leadership to defend the country in trying times.
The APC national leader made the call in Benin, Edo State, where he inaugurated the six-lane New Lagos Road and the General Hospital, Ewhohimi, in Esan South East Local Government Area of the state.
Tinubu argued that insecurity and the lack of services in the country were caused by the failure of the Federal Government to meet the aspirations of Nigerians.
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