Concerned Movement For Justice And Historical Sanity Of Warri Federal Constituency: Open Letter To Nigerian Public -

By Uche Alvin

Open Letter To The Nigerian Public

QUESTIONS BEGGING FOR AN ANSWER

From: Concerned Movement For justice and historical sanity of Warri Federal Constituency
22/9/2025

We begin this expose with unrestrained anger, the kind born out of decades of deceit, manipulation and historical robbery. The Itsekiri people, in their desperate attempt to maintain a borrowed identity and sustain their illusion of superiority, have continued to feed the public with lies, lies that even colonial masters who once used them as local interpreters would be ashamed of today. Every time they open their mouths to speak of Warri Kingdom, Olu of Warri or ancient rulership, one question echoes louder than thunder: when did the Itsekiri become the landlords of Warri?

Let the truth pierce through the fog of deceit, the Itsekiri never founded Warri, they never owned Warri and they never ruled Warri before the arrival of the British. The earliest records from Portuguese explorers such as Pacheco Pereira (1506), João Afonso d’Aveiro (1485), and Duarte Pacheco (1503) never mentioned any “Itsekiri Kingdom.” They wrote of Ijaw communities, strong, organized and established along the Forcados, Escravos and Warri Rivers, trading salt, fish and palm oil with Europeans long before any “Olu” existed. The very coastline upon which the Itsekiris now beat their chests was Ijaw territory, Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh, Egbema and beyond. These are not imaginations; they are historical facts recorded by the earliest European chroniclers.

So, who created the myth of the Warri Kingdom? The answer is simple, the British colonial government. In their policy of indirect rule, they needed a puppet tribe to serve as middlemen between them and the resource-rich Ijaw hinterlands. The Itsekiris, being numerically small and politically weak, accepted this role with greed and servitude. In 1952, through a deceitful collaboration with colonial officers, they changed the title “Olu of Itsekiri” to “Olu of Warri” a title that never existed before colonial intrusion. This fraudulent act is well documented in the Western Region Gazette and in petitions submitted by Ijaw and Urhobo leaders who condemned it as a deliberate attempt to erase their ownership of Warri lands.

If the Itsekiri claim to own Warri, then let them show the document of ownership, not oral tales of imaginary empires. Let them present any pre-colonial map or treaty where Warri Kingdom existed before the British came. Let them show one European record that describes “Itsekiri” as rulers of the Warri region before the 20th century. They cannot because such documents do not exist. What exists are colonial intelligence reports and treaties showing that the British dealt with Ijaw rulers and Urhobo leaders directly, recognizing them as independent and indigenous authorities in the region.

The Itsekiri’s claim of being landlords of Warri is the biggest historical fraud ever sustained in Nigeria’s southern region. The 1936 H.L. Vischer Intelligence Report made it abundantly clear that Warri Province was made up of three main ethnic groups, the Ijaw, the Urhobo and the Itsekiri. Yet the Itsekiri have spent decades deceiving themselves and others that Warri belongs exclusively to them. Even worse, they have continued to insult other monarchs by arrogantly claiming that non-Itsekiri kings who attach Warri to their titles are “equating themselves” to the Olu as if Warri were their ancestral playground. Such ignorance is both laughable and dangerous.

Let us be clear: the Agadagbas of Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh and the Ovie of Uvwie are not subjects of any Olu. They are monarchs of their ancestral lands, lands that existed long before the first Itsekiri settlement was formed. The Itsekiri came later, not as conquerors but as settlers who depended on the hospitality of Ijaw and Urhobo hosts. History, law and geography all agree on this.

The question now is this:

How can a people who arrived later, who were aided and protected by Ijaw communities, suddenly claim to be “founders” of Warri?

How can a tribe that begged for British protection now claim to have ruled an ancient kingdom?

How can a people whose title was renamed by the colonial government claim their rulership is divine?

And how can men who live in denial of geography and law still speak as if they are gods of the land?

These are questions begging for answers, answers that only truth, not propaganda, can provide.

Let the world know: Warri is not Itsekiri land. Warri is a multi-ethnic territory, the living space of Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri peoples. The attempt to monopolize it by false history is the root of every crisis, every division and every injustice in the region. And as long as deceit continues, the voice of truth will continue to roar.

The era of lies has ended. The age of exposure has begun.

Signed,

Chief, Oweibiri Tony
(Chairman)

Dr, Seriwene Friday
(Secretary)

Concerned Movement For justice and historical sanity of Warri Federal Constituency

Cc:
The President, Federal Republic
of Nigeria

The National Assembly of Nigeria

The National Security Adviser (NSA)

The Attorney General of the Federation

The Delta State Government