Discordant tunes over moves to return IDPs home

It was gathered that the govern-ment is not comfortable allowing the IDPs to cast their votes at the camps in Borno State which is a stronghold of the All Progressives Congress (APC).Some of the IDPs interviewed yesterday alleged that they were told by some officials, not from Borno State, to start packing their luggage for […]

It was gathered that the govern-ment is not comfortable allowing the IDPs to cast their votes at the camps in Borno State which is a stronghold of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Some of the IDPs interviewed yesterday alleged that they were told by some officials, not from Borno State, to start packing their luggage for relocation to their communities in the next few days.
But both the state government and the state chapter of the APC say it is not yet time for the IDPs to be relocated.
Over one million IDPs are reportedly in at least 15 camps in Maiduguri or with relatives in the metropolis after they were sacked from their homes by Boko Haram. In 2014 and early this year, out of the 27 LGAs of Borno State, at least 10 were completely taken over by the Boko Haram even as the insurgents have significant presence in additional 10.
Findings by Daily Trust showed that following the extension of the general elections by INEC and the subsequent offensive launched by Nigerian forces in collaboration with troops from Chad, Cameroon and Niger, many communities earlier seized by the Boko Haram have been liberated.
Some of the local councils liberated include Ngala, Kala-Balge, Marte, Abadam, Damasak, Kukawa, Monguno, Dikwa, Mafa, Nganzai and Guzamala while troops are making efforts to recover Bama, Gwoza and several other villages around them.
However, the affected IDPs told our correspondent that it would be too early for them to return home.
Thousands of displaced persons from Baga in Kukawa LGA and others from Monguno are taking refuge at the Teachers’ Village along Pompomari area in Maiduguri,
Others from Damboa, parts of Konduga, Bama and Gwoza are living at the NYSC camp along Tashar Kano and at the Arabic  Teachers College also in Maiduguri.
There are also people from Bama at the Yerwa Girls College also in Maiduguri.
IDPS speak
Bagudu Mustapha who fled to  Maiduguri from Baga said he was approached by some people on plans to evacuate them but he told them that he was not ready to go back now. Babagana Kultu, another IDP from Ngala said they would rather not vote completely than to go back to their towns and villages before the elections.
“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 asked.
Fanta Sheriff, a mother of four from Monguno also expressed fear over 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.
In Yola, internally displaced per-sons from the recently recaptured Michika and Gulak said though they had been hearing that the  March 28 elections might be conducted in  areas recaptured from Boko Haram, they had not been approached on the matter.
Some of the displaced persons interviewed by Daily Trust in Yola said no official told them or sought  their opinion on the purported plans to return home before the election to cast their votes. Yakubu Gulak, a displaced politician from Gulak said the report was unfounded in view of the precarious security situation in the liberated communities and called on INEC not to contemplate conducting elections in the areas.
NEMA harps on security assurance
Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Abuja who responded to the issue denied the possibility of relocating the IDPs soon, saying the agency had not been contacted on the matter. A NEMA source said though the agency was actively involved in helping the IDPS in their camps and elsewhere, their return home would largely depend on the improvement in the security situation which does not lie with the agency.
INEC waiting to act
Spokesman to the INEC chair-man, Kayode Idowu, said it was too early to start making such moves. He said: “We have already planned for them to vote at the centres, now if those IDPs decide to go back to the respective territories, we cannot confirm because we don’t know now. Let’s wait and see if that happens”.
APC fumes
The APC in Borno State says the planed relocation of the IDPs is a grand plan to rig elections.
A statement by its chairman, Ali Bukar Dalori, said: “Borno PDP affiliated to ex-governor Ali Modu Sheriff had a meeting in Lagos at the weekend and perfected plans to use their contacts with the FG to force IDPs back regardless of how inhabitable their communities are. The idea is not about the IDPs. The PDP agreed to use armed forces to frustrate anyone from access to reclaimed territories and use force to rig the elections with threats against voters. Their plan is to actually threaten even INEC officials and then write results, this is what they agreed at their last meeting held at Eko Hotel in Lagos,” he said.
Govt indignant    
Governor Kashim through his spokesman Isa Umar Gusau said his main concern was the safety of his people and the recaptured territories and not their immediate return.
“It will be Governor Shettima’s greatest joy is 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.
Deputy Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Zannah Umar Mustapha, who is the chairman of the various committees saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the IDPs, said it would be premature to start talking about sending them home.
“Yes, communities have been liberated but they are not safe, they are not even fit for security operatives to stay because most barracks and police formations have been destroyed. No water, nothing and all these things must be addressed and this will take at least three or four months to complete,” he said.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Kenneth Minima, who was in Baga last week, announced that IDPs may likely cast their votes in liberated territories.