PRESS STATEMENT
WARRI LEADERS BACK INEC, DEMAND IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF DELINEATION RESULT
Concerned Leaders of Warri Federal Constituency have rejected misleading narratives surrounding the Warri delineation exercise, insisting that the process arose from a binding Supreme Court directive and not political pressure.
The leaders stated that INEC acted lawfully by conducting field verification and stakeholder consultations across Warri Federal Constituency.
They therefore called on the Federal Government and INEC to immediately implement the final delineation result in line with constitutional and judicial directives.
Below is the Open Letter:
RE: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: LAW, HISTORY AND FACTS MUST PREVAIL OVER DISTORTION IN WARRI DELINEATION
The attention of concerned leaders of Warri Federal Constituency has been drawn to the publication authored by T.G.M. Amiwero Esq., titled “Warri Federal Constituency Redelineation: An Educational and Legal Analysis of the Controversy.” While packaged as a legal and educational intervention, the publication unfortunately represents a selective historical narrative designed to justify political dominance while ignoring constitutional realities, judicial directives, colonial records and demographic facts that necessitated the ongoing delineation exercise.
We therefore consider it necessary to put the record straight, firmly, factually and comprehensively.
THE DELINEATION DID NOT COME FROM POLITICAL PRESSURE, IT CAME FROM THE SUPREME COURT
Let Nigerians be reminded that the ongoing delineation exercise did not emerge from Ijaw or Urhobo agitation, propaganda or political conspiracy. It emerged from judicial authority.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria ordered INEC to conduct a fresh delineation exercise in Warri Federal Constituency in accordance with constitutional principles of fair representation, settlement realities and democratic inclusion.
Under Section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended): The decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons.
This means INEC had a constitutional obligation to act.
INEC did not wake up to redraw Warri.
INEC obeyed the law.
Therefore, attempts to criminalize or delegitimize INEC’s constitutional compliance amount to resistance against judicial authority itself.
THE FALSE ARGUMENT THAT DELINEATION EQUALS BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT
The repeated claim that delineation amounts to territorial expansion is misleading.
INEC did not create new local governments.
INEC did not alter state boundaries.
INEC did not create kingdoms.
INEC simply carried out electoral delineation, a constitutional process designed to ensure fair representation based on settlement realities and population spread.
Electoral delineation concerns representation, not ethnic ownership claims.
Communities that exist must count.
People living in riverine settlements cannot be politically erased simply because some people dislike demographic realities.
Votes cannot disappear to preserve fraudulent political advantage.
THE CLAIM THAT ALL OF WARRI BELONGS TO ONE ETHNIC NATIONALITY IS HISTORICALLY CONTESTED
The article repeatedly presents Itsekiri ownership of all Warri as though it is an undisputed historical fact.
It is not.
Warri has always been historically plural.
Warri Federal Constituency consists of Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri communities, each possessing historical settlements, traditional institutions and ancestral claims.
Even colonial records repeatedly acknowledged this reality.
The Southern Nigeria Handbook (1904) described Warri Province as inhabited by different indigenous peoples, especially Ijaw (Ijo) and Urhobo (Sobo) communities, while recognizing Itsekiri settlements within a broader mixed environment.
The 1928 Intelligence Report of Warri Province by F.P. Lynch, Resident of Warri Province, acknowledged the existence and historical presence of Ogbe-Ijoh and surrounding Ijaw settlements as longstanding communities around the Warri axis.
Similarly, historical correspondences involving Chief Dore Numa (1923) referenced long-established Ijaw settlements such as Ogbe-Ijoh and surrounding communities within the Warri environment.
History cannot be quoted selectively.
Truth cannot be built on omission.
COLONIAL RECORDS ON THE OLU TITLE
Historical records further show that the traditional title originally recognized was “Olu of Itsekiri” and not “Olu of Warri.”
The later political transition to “Olu of Warri” remains historically controversial and has long generated objections from co-indigenous ethnic nationalities who never accepted political subordination to any single kingdom.
This alone confirms that Warri has always been understood as a multi-ethnic space, not the exclusive territorial possession of one ethnic nationality.
THE CUSTOMARY TENANCY CLAIM IS A FRAUDULENT POLITICAL NARRATIVE, NOT A CONSTITUTIONAL TRUTH
The repeated attempt to reduce the Ijaw and Urhobo peoples to the status of customary tenants is a long-propagated false political narrative, not a constitutional truth.
A claim repeated for decades does not automatically become fact.
Political repetition does not suddenly become history.
Historically, the Itsekiri are later settlers, entries/tenants, who occupied land granted by the Ijaw people. Therefore, this historical position remains a fact, not propaganda and not political rhetoric pushed by the Itsekiri.
Representation in modern Nigeria is determined by citizenship, recognized settlements, population realities, constitutional rights and democratic participation not disputed narratives of ethnic hierarchy or permanent dependency.
Communities that have existed for generations, maintain traditional institutions, participate in governance, vote, pay taxes and contribute to society cannot simply be politically diminished through endlessly repeated false claims of tenancy.
More importantly, INEC’s delineation exercise is a constitutional process rooted in representation, settlement realities and democratic inclusion.
INEC VERIFIED FACTS ON THE GROUND
Contrary to misleading narratives, INEC did not imagine communities from Abuja.
INEC entered the creeks.
INEC physically visited settlements.
INEC gathered coordinates.
INEC consulted stakeholders.
INEC assessed demographic realities.
INEC verified communities.
These are field realities, not political fiction.
Facts verified on the ground cannot now be erased through emotional arguments or historical monopolies.
THE OLD STRUCTURE WAS THE REAL INJUSTICE
For decades, serious concerns were raised over political imbalance, underrepresentation and structural exclusion within Warri Federal Constituency.
That injustice did not begin today.
That grievance gave rise to litigation.
That litigation led to judicial intervention.
That judicial intervention produced the Supreme Court directive.
You cannot benefit from imbalance for decades and suddenly describe constitutional correction as oppression.
Justice delayed cannot be denied forever.
INEC AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MUST STAND FIRM
The Federal Government must resist propaganda, intimidation and political pressure intended to frustrate constitutionally delineation implementation.
Court judgments are binding.
Field realities are real.
Democracy must reflect representation.
The final delineation result must be immediately implemented in accordance with constitutional and judicial directives.
Justice delayed breeds instability.
Peace without fairness cannot survive.
Warri deserves peace but peace built on truth, fairness and equal representation.
The time for delay has passed.
INEC MUST IMPLEMENT THE FINAL DELINEATION RESULT NOW.
Signed:
Dr. Peterson Ebigbagha
Coordinator
Ijaw Developmental Movement of Warri Federal Constituency
Chief Faithful Odafe
Convenner
Urhobo Community Defenders Justice
