Re: Delayed Publication Of Final Ward Delineation Report In Warri Federal Constituency: The Silenced Majority Shall Not Wait Forever___ Concerned Ijaw Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency -

By Uche Alvin

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, INEC, NSA AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

RE: DELAYED PUBLICATION OF FINAL WARD DELINEATION REPORT IN WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY: THE SILENCED MAJORITY SHALL NOT WAIT FOREVER

Issued by: Concerned Ijaw Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency
Date: July 26, 2025

Your Excellency, Chairman of INEC, National Security Adviser, and Global Observers,

We write not as strangers to the law. Not as aggressors. Not as usurpers. But as the ancestral owners of the lands, creeks and riverine territories now caught in a web of colonial deceit, ethnic intimidation and deliberate institutional sabotage.

We have borne the brunt of silence. We have respected process. But now, we speak with anger, with facts, with law and with unshakable truth.

WE NEVER THREATENED—WE WENT TO COURT

Unlike those who now beat their chests in desperation and threaten to shut down national oil infrastructure, we, the Ijaw people of Warri Federal Constituency, chose the path of constitutionality. We never resorted to violence. We never issued threats of war or called for sabotage of the Nigerian economy.

We were marginalized for over two decades with an outdated and unjust ward configuration, designed not for representation but for oppression.

Yet we walked through fire:

Lower Court: Denied.

Court of Appeal: Denied.

Supreme Court: VICTORY.

In Suit No: SC/CV/1033/2023 – Timimini vs INEC, the apex court of the land held that INEC must conduct ward delineation in Warri Federal Constituency to reflect present demographic and geographic realities.

THE TRUTH ABOUT GINUWA: A FUGITIVE GIVEN SHELTER, NOT A FOUNDING FATHER

History cannot be mocked into silence. Let us put this clearly:

“When Ginuwa I arrived in the Warri river, he met the Ijaws settled across the land. They gave him shelter, gave him a wife, and gave him land upon which Ode-Itsekiri now stands.”
— Niger Coast Protectorate Report, 1896

Ginuwa was not a founder. He was a refugee prince from Benin who came begging. The land he was given was Ijaw territory. Ode-Itsekiri, the spiritual headquarters of the Itsekiris, was land granted by an Ijaw leader. These are not folk tales. These are colonial facts documented in British records.

“The Ijoes were known to be the dominant aboriginal race in the creeks of Warri, long before any foreign crown arrived.”
— Captain H.L. Gallwey, British Consular Report, 1893

Today, the children of those who arrived with empty hands now wave swords of false ownership over our ancestral lands. We reject such revisionism.

INEC MUST OBEY THE SUPREME COURT—NO VOTER REGISTRATION WITHOUT FINAL DELINEATION

We are shocked beyond words that INEC has announced a new Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) scheduled to begin online on August 18, 2025, and in-person on August 25, 2025, even while it has refused to release the final Ward Delineation report as ordered by the Supreme Court.

Let this be firmly and publicly stated:

INEC has no legal or moral right to commence voter registration in Warri Federal Constituency without first publishing the final delineation report.

The Supreme Court judgment is binding under Section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution. It is not a suggestion. It is the law.

Ignoring the judgment is a deliberate act of contempt of court and will be treated as such.

DESPITE THE INJUSTICE, WE REMAINED PEACEFUL—BUT PATIENCE HAS A LIMIT

For over 20 years, we tolerated:

Political imbalance where our large population was crammed into four (4) wards.

Electoral injustice, with over 1,500 people per polling unit in Ijaw areas, while others had fewer than 200.

Denial of oil-based development, even as we host more oil wells, pipelines and flowstations than any other ethnic group in Delta State.

We never burned a tire. We never picked up arms. We never shut down a flowstation. Instead, we filed cases. We brought facts. We waited. But our patience is not endless.

This deliberate delay in publishing the final delineation report, despite full stakeholder engagement, field visitation, community interaction, and data gathering, is not only shameful, it is a dangerous provocation.

OUR DEMANDS

INEC must immediately publish the final delineation report in full compliance with the Supreme Court judgment.
No Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) must take place in Warri Federal Constituency until the new wards are implemented.
The Presidency and National Security Adviser must guarantee the protection of constitutional order, not the appeasement of ethnic blackmailers.
The international community must observe the deliberate attempt to suppress an indigenous majority in favor of a historically privileged minority.

WE HAVE BEEN PATIENT, BUT WE WILL NOT BE PERPETUALLY SILENCED

We issue this letter as a final warning:
The Ijaw people are not violent but we are not cowards.
We are not aggressors but we will not bow.
We are not troublemakers but we will not be erased.
The time bomb is ticking.

Let the law prevail. Let justice be done. Let the map reflect the truth.

Signed:

Chief, Tiemopere Joshua
(President)

Chief, Ebikeme T. Godstime
(Secratery)

Ijaw Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency

Cc:

His Excellency, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Chairman, INEC

National Security Adviser

Director-General, DSS

Nigerian Bar Association

Ijaw National Congress