RE: Historical Misrepresentation, Colonial Distortion And The Urgent Need To Uphold Electoral Integrity In Warri Federal Constituency____Coalition Group

By Esther David

MEMORANDUM

To:
The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Office of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria

From:

Legal Advocate, Niger Delta Indigenous Rights Coalition

Date: July 6, 2025

Subject:
RE: Historical Misrepresentation, Colonial Distortion and the Urgent Need to Uphold Electoral Integrity in Warri Federal Constituency

1. Introduction

This memo is issued in response to ongoing ethnic manipulation, territorial misrepresentation and deliberate delays surrounding the electoral ward delineation exercise in Warri Federal Constituency. The facts clearly show that certain Itsekiri interest groups, invoking a colonial-era construct of “Itsekiri ownership” of Warri, are misleading INEC and national stakeholders through fraudulent historical claims.

We submit this memo to demand that INEC proceed with the final ward delineation publication without delay, and that the National Security Adviser ensures that no group is allowed to intimidate the electoral process using false narratives and monopolized history.

2. Background and Current Threat

The Itsekiri Historical Front and Itsekiri Leaders of Thought have persistently propagated the falsehood that the Olu of Warri is the ancestral and legal sovereign over all of Warri territory, including Ijaw and Urhobo lands. These claims are not only historically false but dangerously subversive, as they seek to undermine INEC’s neutrality and deny other ethnic groups their constitutional political representation.

3. Historical Refutations and Colonial Distortions

Recent comprehensive historical studies, including Groundwork of Nigerian History (edited by Obaro Ikime), reveal the following indisputable facts:

The so-called Itsekiri kingdom collapsed into an interregnum between 1848 and 1936, with no Olu and no central authority functioning (p. 272, 441).

The Olu stool was revived and sustained not by indigenous legitimacy but by British administrative convenience, particularly through the appointment of Warrant Chiefs, like Chief Dogho, who held sway not by native mandate but by colonial decree (p. 417–418, 441).

The Olu’s historic jurisdiction never included Ijaw or Urhobo lands. Instead, leading Itsekiri traders like Nana and Numa operated as middlemen, building camps in Urhobo territory and forging personal alliances, not as sovereigns but as commercial actors (p. 273–274).

Colonial treaties, including the July 16, 1884 Treaty of Protection, were modified by the Itsekiri elders themselves, who refused clauses allowing European free trade in the hinterland, affirming their economic, not political concerns. Even so, these treaties did not convey territorial sovereignty, especially not over Ijaw or Urhobo areas (p. 276).

The Warrant Chief system, despised and resisted by Ijaw, Urhobo and even Itsekiri commoners was imposed without understanding traditional structures. It ultimately led to anti-tax riots and constitutional distortions (p. 444).

Therefore, any Itsekiri claim to political ownership over Warri based on “ancestral rulership” or “colonial recognition” is nothing more than the rebranding of a colonial relic that was rejected by the very people it was imposed upon.

4. INEC’s Mandate and the National Security Threat

The delay in publishing the final delineation results, despite the constitutional process only emboldens the ethnic supremacy narrative. If INEC allows ethnic blackmail and falsified history to dictate electoral fairness, it would:

Disenfranchise the Ijaw and Urhobo peoples in their ancestral communities of Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh, Isaba, Egbema and others.

Enable a minority ethnic elite to continue monopolizing political representation and economic benefits in Warri Federal Constituency.

Undermine peace and security in a region critical to national oil production, thus threatening the stability of the Niger Delta and by extension, the nation.

5. Our Demands

We respectfully and firmly demand:

1. INEC should immediately release and gazette the final ward delineation report for Warri Federal Constituency, in line with Section 112–115 of the Nigerian Constitution and the Electoral Act.
2. The National Security Adviser must call to order any group or traditional institution attempting to undermine the delineation process or threatening violence.
3. The Federal Government must issue a public clarification rejecting any ethnic or royal claims to sovereignty over Warri territory that contradict Nigeria’s democratic federal structure and history.
4. Conclusion

We are Nigerians, not colonial subjects. The Ijaw and Urhobo people of Warri are not tenants to any throne invented by Britain for administrative convenience. The Olu of Warri may be a respected figure among his own people, but he is not the king of Warri and never was.

We urge INEC and the Office of the NSA to resist being tools in the hands of historical revisionists. Let the truth guide policy. Let justice shape representation.

Signed:
Elder, Franklin Oweipi
Chairman,
Legal Advocate, Niger Delta Indigenous Rights Coalition

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