Ijaw Stakeholders Makes Rebuttal To Itsekiris Land Ownership Claims, Reveals Historic, Anthropological Evidence Of The Ijaws Being The Aboriginal Occupants Of Escravos, Forcados And Warri Rivers -

By Uche Alvin

IJAW STAKEHOLDERS OF WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY

MEMORANDUM
Date: 19th July, 2025
Subject: HISTORICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF IJAWS AS THE ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS OF ESCRAVOS, FORCADOS AND WARRI RIVER SYSTEMS — REBUTTAL TO ITSEKIRI OWNERSHIP CLAIMS

To:
The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
The Attorney-General of the Federation
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation
The National Security Adviser
National Boundary Commission
Federal Ministry of Justice
UN Office for West Africa (UNOWAS)
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Human Rights Watch

INTRODUCTION

This memorandum is issued to provide irrefutable historical and documentary evidence that the Ijaw people, particularly of Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh, Isaba, and Diebiri, are the indigenous, aboriginal and majority occupants of the Escravos, Forcados and lower Warri river axis. This evidence is drawn from precolonial European records, particularly from Portuguese expeditions as early as 1480–1485, well before the arrival of Prince Ginuwa from Benin in 1480–81, who later founded what is today misbranded as the “Itsekiri Kingdom.”

We submit this memorandum in response to ongoing distortions of history by Itsekiri elites, who falsely claim that Warri and Escravos lands are exclusively theirs. Their claims are historically inaccurate, politically motivated and designed to deny the Ijaw people our constitutional and demographic right.

HISTORICAL BACKING FROM PACHECO PEREIRA’S 1485 ACCOUNT

The Portuguese explorer Pacheco Pereira, in his 1485 expedition recorded in Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, clearly identified the Ijaw people, referred to as “Jos” in the original Portuguese (Ijos/Ijaws) as the only ethnic group living along the Escravos and Forcados riverbanks at the time.

According to Pereira’s testimony:

The Portuguese traded with the Ijaws of Gbaramatu in 1485, exchanging slaves and ivory for gold.

In 1480, two Portuguese caravels visited the Rio D’Escarvos (Escravos River) and obtained 400 slaves, all of whom were traded at Elmina in Ghana. There were no other ethnic groups in the region recorded.

The original Portuguese text never used the term “beyond the river” to describe the Ijaw settlements, as mistranslated by the Hakluyt Society. Instead, it used “ahead,” meaning downstream, placing the Ijaw in the Escravos and Warri zones.

This directly contradicts the Itsekiri narrative that Ginuwa met no existing occupants when he arrived. In fact, by the time Ginuwa allegedly left Benin to settle, the Ijaws had already established trade networks and settlements across these rivers.

SUPPORTED BY OTHER HISTORIANS

Pacheco Pereira’s report is corroborated by:

Prof. John D. Fage, commentary on Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (1984)

A.F.C. Ryder, Benin and the Europeans (1475–1897)

Roth, Great Benin and Its Customs (1903)

Percy Talbot, The Peoples of Southern Nigeria (1926)

J.W. Blake, European Beginnings in West Africa (1454–1578)

Prof. Joaquim de Carvalho, Portuguese historian and translator (1940)

These works affirm that:

The Ijaw people occupied the entire left branch of the Forcados River (today’s Warri and Escravos Rivers),

Ijaw settlements existed long before European contact, and

The Ijaws were primary participants in early transatlantic trade, particularly in slaves, ivory, cotton and panther skins.

GEOGRAPHIC AND POPULATION DOMINANCE

Modern maps and administrative data show that:

The Ijaw-speaking territories in Warri South-West and parts of Warri South LGA cover more landmass than Itsekiri domains.

Gbaramatu and Ogbe-Ijoh remain populated, vibrant communities, unlike some largely ceremonial Itsekiri outposts.

The Ijaws hold physical control of the coastline, oil-bearing swamps and inland creeks, including the Escravos terminal zone

The current delineation exercise by INEC rightly reflects population spread, land coverage and historical occupancy, which the Ijaws overwhelmingly meet.

THE FALSEHOOD OF ITSEKIRI MONOPOLY

It is ironic that in 1480, the very year Ginuwa fled Benin, the Ijaws were already settled in the Escravos area and trading with Europeans. This clearly places the Ijaw presence centuries ahead of Itsekiri claims.

The Olu’s dominion over “Warri Kingdom” is a colonial fabrication, not an indigenous reality. The British recognized the Olu primarily for indirect rule convenience, not as an ethnic or geographic authority over all Warri lands.

OUR DEMAND

We call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Nigerian Government and the international community to:

Uphold the delineation process based on verifiable population, geography and historical justice.

Reject false narratives crafted by Itsekiri propagandists using colonial-era distortions.

Recognize the Ijaws as the aboriginal landowners of the Escravos and Warri river regions, with ancestral rights dating back before Portuguese arrival.

CONCLUSION

The Ijaw people did not arrive yesterday. We did not invade. We did not migrate from foreign kingdoms. We were here before 1485, conducting trade, building communities and living freely along the Escravos and Warri rivers.

History is on our side. Geography is on our side. Justice is on our side.

Let no amount of political blackmail or media propaganda take away what is lawfully, historically and ancestrally ours.

Signed,

Chief, Tiemopere Joshua
(President)

Chief, Ebikeke T. Goodstime
(Secretary)

Ijaw Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency

Attachments:

1. Map of Forcados–Escravos–Warri River System (Annotated)

2. Extracts from Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (Portuguese and English translations)

3. Bibliographic list of historical sources referenced

BELOW ARE EVIDENCES FROM THE PORTUGUESE ACCOUNTS