The Northern Media Forum (NMF) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to make arrangement for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North to exercise their franchise in next year’s general elections.
The forum in a statement on Friday by its Chairman, Dan Agbese, and Secretary, Zainab Suleiman Okino, said allowing the IDPs to vote would enable them to make an independent decision on the right person to govern them.
The forum said there was a need to vote a presidential candidate who has the capacity to end poverty, banditry, kidnapping, famers-herders clashes, Boko Haram insurgency and other challenges bedevilling the North and the entire nation.
Part of the statement reads, “What the North in particular needs this time is concrete plan of action that has the capacity to transform, reform and change the narratives of destitution, poverty, anger and hunger, desolation, tragedies. We want the North in particular and Nigeria in general reengineered for good.
“We urge all security agencies to secure the IDPs, while INEC should make arrangement for them to be able to cast their votes and make an independent decision on who to govern them.
“Anybody worth his salt, seeking political office must seek to end banditry and not cut deals with them. Banditry has left families traumatised and only a declarative statement on how to end it should earn office seekers votes. We enjoin voters to be aware of the ugly trend of some politicians in cahoots with bandits.
“The North is not just the headquarters of banditry, it is home to millions of IDPs who became victims of insurgency, banditry and herder-fulani clashes. They lost their homes and means of livelihood too.
“Something needs to be done urgently for them to be relocated back to their homes or permanent abodes. No politician should come tomorrow to say they didn’t know how daunting the catastrophe was.”
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