When Lies Fail The Throne Trembles: A Clarion Call Against Itsekiri Falsehood And Electoral Manipulation____By Coalition Of Ijaw Ancestral Communities Landowners -

By Uche Alvin

Let it be said and never forgotten, the day the Itsekiri elite and their palace lose the ability to lie, the Itsekiri Kingdom as currently imagined will collapse like a house built on borrowed sand. For what has sustained their land claims is not truth, not history, not justice but an uninterrupted performance of manipulation, intimidation and falsified authority.

We write today not merely as aggrieved voices but as the inheritors of ancestral memory and as defenders of truth in a land where truth has been buried beneath titles and paperwork forged in the colonial chamber of fraud.

Nigerians must not fall for the Itsekiris’ desperate last-minute antics. Their false claims are brittle and their narratives, though loud are not rooted in reality. They tell the world that they own all of Warri, yet the Olu cannot summon an Ijaw man, not to his palace, not to his court, not even to his gate. Neither can he summon an Urhobo man. The question then arises, what kind of ownership is this that commands no obedience, no homage and no legal recognition outside its clan?

This is the kingdom of paper lords, a kingdom whose throne is built on rent and whose foundation is layered in legal distortion.

Let the truth be told once again, the land on which the present-day Olu’s palace stands is not even theirs. The Itsekiris pay rent to the Okere-Urhobo community till this day. What kind of landlord pays rent for his own crown? What kind of king reigns over a soil whose title deeds bear another people’s name?

We are therefore calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria to prevail upon the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to uphold its constitutional duty without fear, favour or ethnic intimidation.

INEC must immediately release the final delineation results for Warri Federal Constituency. Any further delay is an act of complicity. Any silence is a betrayal of democratic fairness. We, the Ijaw people and indeed all progressive minds across Nigeria will not stand by while historical lies are used to suppress present realities.

We also call on all relevant institutions of the Nigerian State, the National Security Adviser (NSA), the National Judicial Council (NJC), the Presidency, the National Assembly and the Civil Society Community to rise in defense of truth, peace and constitutional justice.

The world must hear us. The world must know that a people are being politically strangled through a combination of old colonial myths and modern-day ethnic bullying.

We are not asking for privilege. We are demanding what is already ours. We are not settlers. We are the first dwellers. We are not tenants. We are the children of the soil.

The Ijaw Nation will not bow to fear, will not fold to distortion and will not remain quiet while strangers attempt to rename and recolonize our homelands. We were here before the Olu’s crown existed. And long after lies fall silent, we will still be here telling our truth, holding our ground and defending what our ancestors bequeathed to us with blood and breath.

Let justice speak now. Let the truth rise. Let INEC act.

Signed:
Miebi Thomp
President
Coalition of Ijaw Ancestral Communities and Landowners