INEC's Plateau REC Prof. Samuel Egwu announces plans for IDP voting centres across nine LGAs, Bassa, Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Jos South, Mangu, Kanam, Kanke, Wase, and Bokkos, citing displacement from ongoing insecurity.
Jos, Plateau State — September 2026
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is planning to establish voting centres for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in nine local government areas of Plateau State ahead of the 2027 general elections, a measure the commission says is necessary given the scale of displacement caused by the state's ongoing security crisis.
Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Plateau State, Prof. Samuel Egwu, disclosed the plan on Wednesday during a meeting with political party leaders and other stakeholders at the commission's headquarters in Jos.
Egwu said the initiative aligns with Nigeria's obligations under the Kampala Declaration on Internally Displaced Persons, which guarantees displaced citizens the right to participate in elections regardless of their location.
He explained that the commission is preparing for the possibility that some displaced residents may still be unable to return to their home communities by the time voting takes place. "We don't even know what will happen next week, but by the facts that we know now, we may have to prepare for IDP voting in nine local governments out of 17," he said.
The nine local government areas earmarked for potential IDP voting arrangements are Bassa, Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Jos South, Mangu, Kanam, Kanke, Wase, and Bokkos, a list that reads as a near-complete map of the LGAs hardest hit by Plateau's recurring violence over the past year, including the Mangu mass-casualty attacks, repeated killings in Riyom, and displacement in Bassa and Barkin Ladi.
Egwu clarified that where security conditions prevent displaced voters from returning to their communities, INEC would establish voting arrangements at their places of displacement. Crucially, he stressed that votes cast by IDPs would still be collated and counted as part of their original wards and constituencies, preserving the electoral weight of the communities they were forced to flee.
The plan is a striking institutional acknowledgment of just how deeply insecurity has reshaped Plateau's demographic and political landscape, with more than half the state's local government areas now considered at risk of having voters unable to physically return home even by 2027.
It also adds an electoral dimension to the broader resettlement push championed by Governor Caleb Mutfwang's administration, whose success or failure over the next year could directly determine how many Plateau residents are still voting from displacement when the polls open.
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