“No One Must Be Above The Law Wether Royalty Or Not” Says Rights Group, Calls For Prosecution Of All Involved In Delta Arms Smuggling Deal -

By Uche Alvin

IJAW STAKEHOLDERS OF WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY

PRESS RELEASE

Date: July 19, 2025
Title:
NOISE IS NOT POPULATION. PROPAGANDA IS NOT POWER. NOBODY IS ABOVE THE LAW.

Nigeria stands on the edge of a dangerous silence. A silence too loud to ignore. A silence funded by stolen oil, soaked in blood and driven by the fear of confronting those who hide behind crowns, uniforms and outdated lies. But today, we speak not just for ourselves, we speak for history, for justice and for the soul of the Nigerian nation.

What do you call a people who don’t have the land but claim ownership?
What do you call a group who lack the numbers but control the narrative?
What do you call a kingdom that was never founded on land, law or lineage but on colonial convenience?

We call it what it is: fraud wearing a crown, lies armed with guns and a minority forcing its will on the majority through lies, manipulation and gunrunning.

THE GUNS BEHIND THE THRONES

Recent revelations following the DSS arms raid in Ebuzo, Asaba, have confirmed what Niger Deltans have whispered for too long. Illegal arms are flooding our communities not from unknown sources but from well-dressed warlords sitting in royal councils, political meetings and oil surveillance contracts.

Edema. Maki Polo. The names were mentioned. Guns were found. A police officer died.
But what happened after?
Nothing. No press statement. No trial. No prosecution. Only silence.

Who are they protecting? Why are names being shielded?
Why has the Commissioner of Police not addressed the death of his own officer during a shootout with DSS agents?

The truth is simple and painful: The arms dealers wear agbadas. Some wear crowns. Some wear uniforms.

INEC, WHERE IS YOUR COURAGE?

We turn now to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
For over a decade, the Ijaw people followed the rule of law, seeking delineation, not domination. Through court cases, petitions and demographic proof, we demanded representation based on population, geography and truth.

INEC listened. It began the process. But now, when the maps have been drawn and the facts confirmed, manipulation is creeping in. Lies from those who shout the loudest, not those who number the most.

We ask:
Why is INEC afraid to publish the final ward delineation in Warri?
Why should the Ijaw and Urhobos majority remain underrepresented to please those who are politically loud but numerically few?

INEC must not bend to threats or tribal blackmail.
Census is fact. Court is law. History is clear. The Ijaws and the Urhobos are the majority. Give us our voice.

THE CROWN THAT COVERS CRIME

What kind of monarchy operates from the shadows of gun deals?
What kind of throne fears population headcounts?
What kind of kingdom needs media blackmail to survive?

Let it be made plain, the Olu of Warri’s territorial claims are built on colonial fiction.
Portuguese explorer Pacheco Pereira, in 1485, documented Ijaw settlements in Escravos and Forcados, decades before Ginuwa even set foot in the Delta. There was no Itsekiri presence. The Ijaws were there, trading, governing and living on ancestral land.

Yet today, the same people who arrived as refugees now claim to be landlords?
The same people who do not even dominate two wards now want to dictate to a federal commission?

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S DANGEROUS SILENCE

To the federal government: how long will you watch this injustice grow?
How long will you protect those named in illegal arms investigations because they are close to power?

How long will DSS arrests go nowhere?
How long will INEC wait to act on data it already verified?

The people are watching.
The region is boiling.
And Nigeria cannot afford another crisis built on cowardice and lies.

OUR STAND IS CLEAR

We will not be silent while arms flow from royal courtyards.
We will not be quiet while INEC delays justice.
We will not sit back while the federal government protects those who arm the killers of our children.

We are Ijaw. We are the owners of the land. We are the majority.

OUR DEMANDS

Let INEC immediately publish the finalized delineation for Warri Federal Constituency based on population and geography.
Let the DSS make public the full findings of the Asaba arms raid.
Let all persons mentioned in the arms confession be arrested, tried, and prosecuted, regardless of title.
Let the Nigerian government declare that no one, king or colonel is above the law.