“Stop Distorting History And Living In Lies With Fake Crown, Fake Land And Fake Population”___

By Esther David

PRESS RELEASE

STOP DISTORTING HISTORY. STOP LIVING ON LIES. FAKE CROWN, FAKE LAND, FAKE POPULATION.
WE HARBOURED YOU

Issued by: Ijaw Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency

Date: [14/7/2025]

There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal and that time is now. We, the Ijaw people of Warri Federal Constituency, refuse to sit by and watch a handful of historical impostors, masquerading under the name “Itsekiri Historical Front,” rewrite our ancestral story with lies, colonial manipulations and fraudulent court citations.

Let it ring across Nigeria, across Africa and the world. You cannot claim what you never owned, you cannot fake ancestry, you cannot sustain a crown built on borrowed soil and stolen identity!

WE GAVE YOU SHELTER — NOW YOU CLAIM THE ROOF?

It is an insult to intelligence and a desecration of truth that the same Itsekiri people we harboured, accommodated and gave a place to settle, now shamelessly claim overlordship over Ijaw lands like Ogbe-Ijoh, Gbaramatu, Isaba, Egbema, Okerenkoko and others.

As Captain H. F. Creech Jones, British Resident Officer, wrote in the 1908 Warri Intelligence Report: “The Ijaws occupy the creeks and islands of Warri Province. The Itsekiri are confined mainly to the Benin River areas, and their presence inland is sparse.”

What more proof is needed? When colonial records already stated over a century ago that the Ijaws were the dominant riverine population, while the Itsekiri occupied limited, concentrated hamlets around Ode-Itsekiri and Koko.

FAKE CROWN, FABRICATED KINGDOM — THE OLU OF WARRI IS A COLONIAL PRODUCT!

Let us make it plain. The title “Olu of Warri” did not exist before 1952. The Itsekiri were originally ruled by titled elders and not kings. The monarchy itself was an invention of the British to centralize power in a minority for administrative ease.

In the Western Region Gazette No. 19, Vol. 41 of 1952, the British officially changed the title “Olu of Itsekiri” to “Olu of Warri”despite protests from both Ijaw and Urhobo leaders.

Chief M. E. Rewane, an Itsekiri statesman, admitted in a 1953 debate in Ibadan:
“The title Olu of Warri was created by the colonial authorities to unify our people and has no ancient backing.”

So why do you lie? Why do you continue parading a fake crown created to enslave other nationalities in Warri?

YOU CAN’T ERASE OUR FOOTPRINTS — WE OWN THE LAND, THE RIVERS, THE SHRINES, THE SPIRITS!

Let us ask boldly:

Where are the ancestral shrines of the Itsekiris in Ogbe-Ijoh, Gbaramatu or Egbema and other Ijaw territories claim?

Where are the graves of Itsekiri ancestors in Okerenkoko, Benikrukru or Isaba?

Who gave you the right to claim lands you neither founded, farmed nor fought for?

As documented in the 1932 Anthropological Survey of the Niger Delta (Prof. Daryll Forde, University of London):
“The Ijaw tribes in the Western Delta, notably the Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh, and Egbema are the oldest settled riverine peoples with complex governance systems distinct from the Itsekiri and Urhobo.”

History cannot be replaced by courtroom deception. Even when Itsekiris parade outdated court judgments, none of them ever awarded title of ownership to Itsekiris over the Ijaw towns they now claim.

THE COURTS YOU CITE DO NOT FAVOUR YOU — WE READ THEM TOO!

You parade your usual pack of court cases: Ometan v. Dore Numa, Chief Apoh v. Pere, W/148/56, etc. But let’s break the myth:

Shell BP v. Otoko (1990) 6 NWLR (Pt. 159) 693

The Supreme Court confirmed the land in Gbaramatu belonged to Ijaws. The Itsekiris were not even parties. Why? Because they had no claim!

Ijaw National Congress v. Governor of Delta State (2010)

This case exposed how ward manipulation was done to favour the Itsekiris. The Court ordered corrective delineation, which INEC is now doing!

FHC/B/CS/96/2019 – Gbaramatu v. Delta State Government

The court ruled that Gbaramatu is an autonomous kingdom, not subject to the Olu of Warri. It reaffirmed Ijaw self-determination.

Stop twisting rulings. Possessory title is not ownership. Tenancy is not slavery. Most rulings you cite only upheld rights to specific creeks or compensation, they did not transfer native ownership of Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh or Egbema.

YOU DON’T HAVE THE POPULATION TO CLAIM WARRI!

Let’s talk census:

1952 Census – Warri Division:

Ijaw (Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh, Isaba): 48.7%

Urhobo (Agbassa, Okere, Okumagba): 39.5%

Itsekiri: 11.8%

1963 Census confirmed the Ijaw and Urhobo majority.

Even in 2023, data from INEC ward registration confirms:

Warri South-West:

Ijaw = 61,280 registered voters

Itsekiri = 21,440 registered voters

So where is your “indigenous dominance”? You rule only by manipulation, not by demography. You are a tenant tribe, clinging to an expired colonial throne.

TO INEC AND NIGERIA: DON’T ALLOW BLACKMAIL TO OVERRIDE TRUTH

We warn INEC: You owe allegiance to the Nigerian Constitution, not to Itsekiri propaganda.

Section 91 of the 1999 Constitution mandates fair representation based on population.

Electoral Act 2022, Sections 112–114, demand delineation that reflects community distribution.

INEC Guidelines (2023) recognize water-based communities and grant them full delineation rights.

Therefore, the current 12-ward structure in Warri South-West is legal, valid, and irreversible.

STOP LIVING ON FALSEHOOD!

Stop claiming what you do not own.

Stop manipulating court records.

Stop blackmailing INEC and federal agencies.

Stop pretending to be kings over lands they do not speak the language of.

Your crown is built on fiction. Your ownership is built on colonial paperwork. Your throne is floating on propaganda.

As Pa E.K. Clark once said:
“No court, no king, no force can take our ancestral land from us. Not today, not ever.”

THIS IS OUR FINAL WORD — NEVER AGAIN SHALL YOU TELL OUR STORY!

From Gbaramatu to Ogbe-Ijoh, from Okerenkoko to Egbema, we are the landlords. We didn’t beg for land, we inherited it from our ancestors, long before Olu Ginuwa ever left Benin.