“Itsekiris Are Our Subjects And We Were Never Under The Olu Of Itsekiri” Says Ijaw Human Rights Organization In An Open Letter To President Tinubu, INEC -

By Esther David

OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT TINUBU, INEC AND THE WORLD: OUR LAND IS NOT FOR SALE, OUR HISTORY NOT FOR HIJACKING, OUR RIGHTS NOT FOR NEGOTIATION

You met us here, now you claim to rule us? You were strangers, we gave you shelter. You had no crown, we gave you rest. You had no land, we opened ours. Now you crown yourselves kings over us? How dare you?

We, the Ijaw People of Warri Federal Constituency, declare this loud and clear: ITSEKIRIS ARE OUR SUBJECTS. WE WERE NEVER UNDER THE OLU. WE WILL NEVER BE. The propaganda must stop. The colonial fraud must end. The lie of one kingdom over many nations is a historical abomination.

The so-called “Olu of Warri” is not a universal throne. It is an Itsekiri affair, stop dragging our names, lands and lineage into a fantasy forged in colonial confusion. Let the record show. Warri is not one ethnic kingdom. It is a region of many peoples, Ijaw, Urhobo and others, who had civilization, land tenure and autonomous authority LONG before any Itsekiri refugee landed.

Ginuwa was harbored. He fled because of an atrocity he committed. He was given refuge among our ancestors. Now his descendants are falsely and manipulatively owning lands they don’t have? This is the theft of memory, the colonization of heritage. We will not allow it.

The land you want to own, Ogbe-Ijoh, Gbaramatu, Isaba, Diebiri, has never sworn allegiance to the Itsekiri throne. Look into colonial maps: see the boundaries. Look into legal records: see the ownership. Look into the 1952 Intelligence Report on Warri Division: it clearly states the independence of the Ijaw and Urhobo towns. Look into Suit W/148/56 (Chief Dore Numa vs. Chief Otuedon): even the courts recognized that Itsekiris cannot claim overlordship over Ijaw lands. What then is this false crown doing parading over Warri?

To INEC, your silence is betrayal. Your delay is oppression. You came for ward delineation. You saw the truth. You took testimonies. You entered our lands. Now, under pressure, you shelve the report? Who are you protecting? Who paid for your silence? Are you a Commission or a conspirator? You promised fairness, we see manipulation. You said justice, we see betrayal. We are watching. The world is watching.

Every delay fuels injustice. Every silence deepens our wound. Every hidden report is a bullet fired at our identity. You do not have the right to auction our dignity on the altar of political fear.

We demand the immediate release of the ward delineation report. We demand the official recognition of Ijaw autonomous communities. We demand the removal of the fraudulent title “Olu of Warri” from official documents, it is an ethnic title, not a territorial right. Stop rewriting the map with lies. Stop manufacturing kingdoms where only diversity exists.

To the Nigerian state, do not mistake our calm for consent. We are not weak. We are not voiceless. We are not forgetful. We remember the treaties. We remember the manipulations of 1952, 1957, 1997. We remember how the Itsekiri hijacked the Warri South-West creation, changing Ogbe-Ijoh to Ogidigben. We remember the bloodshed, the marginalization, the political blackmail. And we say, NO MORE.

We did not know a throne we did not build. We are not part of a kingdom we harbour as strangers. We are the sons and daughters of the river, free, proud, unbroken.

This is not hate, it is history. This is not violence, it is memory. This is not provocation, it is protest. Protest against erasure. Against imperialism in native dress. Against democracy turned theatre.

We are not under the Olu. We are not subjects of any Itsekiri palace. We are not statistics in a colonial census. We are landowners. Kingmakers. Hosts. Citizens. And we are awake.

This land is not for political chess. It is sacred. Lived. Fought for. And it will be defended.

We gave you refuge. Do not call yourselves kings over us.

Signed:
Chief, Ekiokekeme Graceful
Chairman,
The Ijaw People of Warri Federal Constituency
Under the banner of truth, memory and resistance.

Cc:
African Union Human Rights Commission
UN Indigenous Peoples Forum
International Press & Civil Society
Nigerian Human Rights Community
Delta State Government
National Assembly
International Observers
All Who Still Have A Conscience