No Delineation, No Legitimacy: A Call for Constitutional Compliance in Warri
INEC’S CONTINUED WITHHOLDING OF WARRI DELINEATION FINAL RESULT IS A DELIBERATE VIOLATION OF LAW AND AN INVITATION TO INSTABILITY
This is the April 1, 2026 and the silence of INEC has now become louder than any official statement it could ever issue. What began as delay has matured into defiance, what was once presented as process has now exposed itself as calculated avoidance.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria spoke clearly in George Timinimi & Ors v. INEC (SC/CV/1033/2022). That judgment was not advisory, it was not optional, it was final, binding and enforceable, INEC obeyed halfway by conducting the delineation exercise but stopped at the very point where truth must be made public. A process completed but not released is not compliance, it is concealment.
Section 287(1) of the Constitution leaves no room for interpretation, the decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced. Section 1(1) reinforces that the Constitution is supreme and binding on all authorities. These provisions are not ceremonial language, they are the spine of the Nigerian state, when an institution like INEC chooses silence in the face of a completed judicial directive, it is not merely delaying administration, it is weakening the authority of the Constitution itself.
The continued withholding of the Warri delineation result is therefore not a technical matter, it is a constitutional breach. It is a denial of lawful representation, it is a quiet suspension of the rights of a people to know the structure under which they are to be governed.
Time, in law, is not indefinite. Section 36(1) guarantees determination of rights within a reasonable time. That time has long expired, what remains now is not delay but denial, not caution but refusal.
Warri Federal Constituency is not an abstract map, it is a living convergence of distinct peoples whose existence and identity have been recorded long before modern political manipulation began. Colonial records, including the Warri Township Assessment Report of 1928, recognized the presence of Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri as co-existing entities. Even earlier, Duarte Pacheco Pereira in 1485 documented his encounter with the Ijos in Escravos and Forcados, establishing a historical presence that predates colonial rearrangements and manufactured narratives.
The law has also spoken beyond controversy. The Privy Council in Ometan v. Dore Numa (1926) rejected the idea of centralized overlordship over neighboring lands. The Supreme Court in Shell v. Tiebo VII (1996) affirmed that Ijaw communities hold their lands under their own customary system. These are not interpretations. They are binding legal realities that dismantle every attempt to impose a false hierarchy over Warri.
Yet, in the face of these clear legal and historical positions, INEC continues to hold the final delineation result in abeyance, as though legality can be paused and justice can be negotiated.
A democracy does not begin with elections. It begins with lawful structure. Without valid wards, there can be no valid registration, without valid registration, there can be no legitimate election, to proceed otherwise is to construct a democratic process on a defective foundation and expect it to stand.
This is why the continued silence of INEC is dangerous, It creates uncertainty, It sustains tension, It undermines confidence, It sends a message that compliance with the Supreme Court is optional and that constitutional order can be suspended without consequence.
But institutions must understand this, unresolved injustice does not disappear, it accumulates, it deepens, it eventually expresses itself in ways that cannot be managed by silence.
This is not a threat. It is a statement of historical reality.
The Nigerian state has faced similar moments before, where delay in justice became the seed of instability, it would be a grave mistake to repeat that pattern under the guise of administrative caution.
There is no justification left, The delineation exercise has been conducted, the data exists, The report exists, what remains is publication. Anything short of that is deliberate.
Let the record be clear and unmistakable.
Without the final delineation result, there is no lawful electoral framework in Warri Federal Constituency. Any Continuous Voter Registration carried out under the old structure is defective. Any election conducted on that basis is fundamentally compromised.
Legitimacy cannot be manufactured, it must be earned through compliance with law.
INEC must act. The Federal Government must act. Not with explanations, not with delay but with immediate adherence to the Constitution and the judgment of the Supreme Court.
No final delineation result, no Continuous Voter Registration. No valid registration, no credible election. History is watching, the Constitution is clear, the people are aware and this prolonged silence can no longer be sustained.
Signed:
Chief Tiemopere Joshua ~ President
Chief Ebikeke T. Goodstime ~ Secretary
Concerned Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency for Truth and Justice
Cc:
The National Security Adviser
The Chief Justice of Nigeria
The National Assembly
The Delta State Governor
International Observers
Media Houses