"No diaspora voting in February 2019 general elections." INEC affirms.

The attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has been drawn to a report by a section of the media which gave false impression that the commission has "made special provisions for the Internally displaced people outside Nigeria to vote in the 2019 election."

The Commission wishes to state unequivocally that there will  be no diaspora voting for any Nigerian, I'm accordance with extant provision of the Nigerian Constitution 1978 as amended.

Only duly registered internally displaced people within Nigeria will be allowed to vote.

The framework and regulations for IDP was presented and validated by stakeholders at a conference held in Abuja, on November 12, 2018. However, there was no reference whatsoever in the remark made by Hon. Chairman. Prof. Mahmood Yakubu or during deliberations at the validation meeting that special provisions will be made for the IDP's outside Nigeria to vote in the forthcoming election, contrary to the said media report.

It should be noted that while  internally displaced persons residing in states where they registered can vote in all elections, those displaced from their states and are currently living in states other than where they registered can only vote in the Presidential election.

The framework validated by stakeholders at the conference is in consonance with the provisions of section 26 (i) of the Electoral [Amendment Act 2015] which provides that "in the event of an emergency affecting an election, the Commission shall as far as possible ensures that the persons displaced as a result of emergency are not disenfranchised."