“Warri Ward Delineation Delay A Betrayal Of Justice, A Mockery Of Indigeneity”__

By Uche Alvin

MEMORANDUM TO INEC, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND ALL CONCERNED STAKEHOLDERS

RE: WARRI WARD DELINEATION DELAY — A BETRAYAL OF JUSTICE, A MOCKERY OF INDIGENEITY

We, the Indigenous Ijaw People of Warri Federal Constituency, sons and daughters of Ogbe-Ijoh, Gbaramatu, Diebiri, Isaba and other ancestral communities, submit this memorandum not as beggars of justice, but as rightful stakeholders in the democratic and historical destiny of Warri.

We are not aliens. We are not latecomers. We are not political pawns.
We are the first dwellers of the lands now called Warri, long before the British arrived, long before colonial cartographers redrew our territories and long before anyone heard of a so-called Olu of Itsekiri.

What INEC has done is a diligent and lawful process of ward delineation as ordered by the supreme Court. The report has passed all technical verifications, administrative scrutiny, and judicial confirmation. It is complete. It is ready. Yet it is being withheld in the shadows of ethnic blackmail and elite sabotage.

THIS IS NOT A DELAY. IT IS A BETRAYAL

It is an open insult to a people who have abided by every law. A slap to decades of patient struggle. A stain on Nigeria’s conscience. A test of the credibility of INEC as an institution of democracy.

The Itsekiri elite have done everything to suppress this truth. From running to palaces of Benin monarchs, to whispering in the ears of Yoruba kings, to lobbying northern traditional institutions. From failed court appeals to media manipulation. From sponsoring unrest near Ijaw territories to inciting panic through fake protests at the NPA and Arise TV. From judgement review attempts to desperate calls for ethnic recognition in places they historically never belonged.

Even with all their noise, their actions betray the same truth, they are afraid of justice.

And why shouldn’t they be?

Their so-called kingship was built not on consensus or ancestral dominion, but on colonial invention. A title manufactured by the British to control a region by empowering their most loyal allies. Their so-called palace in Warri is built on Okere-Urhobo land, where rent is paid. That single fact collapses every claim of ownership. No true king builds a throne on borrowed soil.

The Olu of Itsekiri is bearing false title. He holds no legitimacy over Ijaw or Urhobo territories. He is not revered across the ethnic spectrum of Warri. No Ijaw community bows to him. No Urhobo clan pays him homage. His “overlordship” is fiction, written in the ink of colonial favoritism, not ancestral truth.

We harbour no hate. But we carry pain. Deep pain. Pain of silence. Pain of denial. Pain of being reduced with manipulation and lies as owners in lands we cultivated, named and defended. It is our kindness that gave them shelter but that kindness has been repaid with historical theft.

Even their own icon, Chief Dore Numa, in a letter dated November 10, 1923, admitted clearly and publicly that:

“The Ogbe-Ijoh natives are the rightful owners of the New Warri or Ogbe-Ijo and Alders Town Land in Warri. Myself, Dore Numa, own not any land at Warri through native right of ownership”

This is not folklore. This is on record. It is preserved in Nigeria’s National Archives and referenced by scholars like Prof. Obaro Ikime in Niger Delta Rivalry (p. 255).

Legally, multiple court judgments have already shattered the Itsekiri myth of territorial dominance. The Court of Appeal in Koko v. Koko made it clear that titles without historical backing are empty. The Supreme Court in Shell-BP v. Abedi confirmed that land claims must be backed by actual occupation, not oral exaggerations. In Edoni v. Igwe, it was reaffirmed that no monarch can claim territories outside the scope of his native ancestry.

So we ask: why is INEC holding back?

Why should the entire Warri political landscape be hijacked by the emotional fragility of a group desperate to cling to colonial entitlements?

Why should the constitutional rights of the Ijaw be suppressed because of manipulative few finding it hard to accept the truth?

Let it be known: If this ward delineation result is not published, there will be no election in the three Warri LGAs in 2027.

We will not vote under an illegal, outdated and already-nullified ward structure.

Our votes are not instruments of oppression. Our votes are voices of a people and those voices have been silenced for too long.

We therefore call on:

INEC — to rise above pressure and immediately release the final ward delineation report as guided by the law.

The Federal Government — to stop enabling tribal blackmail and uphold justice.

The Judiciary — to ensure that rulings are respected and implemented.

The International Community — to monitor this unfolding injustice and support Nigeria’s democratic integrity.

You cannot force people into silence. You cannot colonize the future with lies from the past. You cannot be a landlord where you pay rent. You cannot wear a crown that history never placed on your head.

Truth may be delayed. But it cannot be defeated.

Enough is enough.
Let the system do its job.
Let the truth be free.
Let Warri breathe.

Signed:
Miebi Thomp
President,
Concerned Indigenous Ijaw Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency