RE: The Misleading Okerenghigho Propaganda By The Itsekiris, And Our Demand For The Immediate Announcement Of The Warri Federal Constituency Delineation Report__

By Uche Alvin

OPEN LETTER TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, INEC, NSA.

RE: THE MISLEADING OKERENGHIGHO PROPAGANDA AND DEMANDING THE IMMEDIATE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY DELINEATION RESULT

DATE: 16:11/2025

We write with moral outrage, constitutional defiance and the unbroken certainty of historical truth because the level of misinformation, distortion and deliberate manipulation being pushed into the public space by Itsekiri propagandists over the issues of Okerenghigho, Okerenkoko and the Warri Federal Constituency delineation has reached a dangerous height. What we are witnessing is not an attempt to defend truth, it is a frantic attempt to bury it. And because injustice thrives when truth stays silent, this letter must be written loudly, clearly and unapologetically.

Let it be first understood that the recent publication circulating false claims about Okerenghigho is not an isolated argument; it is part of a long, predictable pattern. Every time democratic progress threatens the old colonial imbalance that kept the Itsekiri minority politically elevated above the Ijaw and Urhobo majority, the same tactics reappear: twisting court judgments, misrepresenting history, shouting entitlement into the air, resurrecting outdated colonial memories and hoping that the louder the lie, the more truth will disappear. But history is not intimidated by noise. Law is not overpowered by propaganda. And the Constitution does not bend to ethnic entitlement.

The Itsekiri activist narrative claims that a Supreme Court judgment magically transformed Okerenkoko a real, populated, documented Ijaw community into “Okerenghigho,” as if the Court had the power to rename territories that were never litigated before it. This is deliberate deception. The James Uluba & Ors v. Chief E.E. Sillo & Ors case decided specific issues between specific parties over specific parcels of land. It did not adjudicate the entire geography of Gbaramatu Kingdom. It did not pronounce on ethnic ownership. It did not issue any blanket decree about aboriginal status. Even the Supreme Court itself warned against over-extending its judgment beyond the matters before it. This misuse of judicial authority is not ignorance, it is intentional manipulation.

The deeper truth is that long before the Itsekiri kingdom was fully formed in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Ijaw people were already spread across the Escravos, Benin and Warri river regions. This is recorded in the writings of Portuguese explorer Duarte Pacheco Pereira in 1485, long before any Itsekiri monarchy existed. Colonial intelligence reports from 1927 to 1936, all documented in CSO and CO archival series, confirm the existence of ancient Ijaw settlements across what is today Gbaramatu, Okerenkoko, Oporoza, Kunukunuma and their surrounding villages. Government maps long before independence record these communities. At no point in documented history did Okerenghigho exist as the singular ancestral name of an entire region; the attempt to invent such a narrative is political myth-making, not historiography.

Now the Itsekiri elite attempt to use this falsified history to derail the most important democratic process in Warri in decades: the Supreme Court–mandated delineation of Warri Federal Constituency. And this is where the true motive becomes clear. For years, Warri was trapped under the fraudulent ward arrangement, a structure born from colonial preference and not population reality. It allowed the minority to lord over the majority. It carved Warri in ways that violated Section 14(2)(a) of the Constitution, which says sovereignty belongs to the people. It violated Sections 71–76 and 112–116, which mandate population-based delineation. It violated Section 42, which forbids discrimination based on community or ethnic origin. It violated Section 287, which compels obedience to Supreme Court decisions. In simple terms: the old ward arrangement was a constitutional embarrassment masquerading as heritage.

Now INEC has carried out the court-ordered fieldwork. The truth has been measured. The truth has been mapped. The truth has been verified. And that truth is exactly what the Itsekiri political establishment fears: Ijaw and Urhobo constitute the overwhelming majority in Warri Federal Constituency, in landmass, in settlement spread, in polling units, in actual human presence. INEC did not create this truth. INEC merely documented what has always existed. The desperation to shout “fraud!” is not because fraud occurred but because the era of minority domination is dying.

And so, the Okerenghigho propaganda is resurrected as a last weapon. It is a distraction, a diversion, an attempt to confuse the Nigerian state and slow down the constitutional process. But it has failed. And it will continue to fail because truth is older than this lie. The attempt to drag the Attorney General of the Federation into a misinterpreted Supreme Court judgment is a distortion of Section 150. The AGF is the chief law officer, not a tribal land registrar, not a geographical magician who can rename communities by memo. He has no constitutional power to undo what federal mapping, local government records, historical documents and community existence have established. No court judgment has nullified the name Okerenkoko and no propaganda will.

Warri is not a monarchy. Warri is not the private inheritance of any tribe. Warri is made up of seven indigenous kingdoms, Ijaw, Urhobo and Itsekiri, none superior to the other. And political representation must reflect reality, not sentiment. No amount of shouting, no recycled propaganda, no old map, no emotional blackmail can stop the new delineation. The Supreme Court has spoken. INEC has completed its work. The Constitution is clear. The data is clear. The people are aware. The time for political daylight robbery is over.

The Federal Government must now act. The National Security Adviser must now act. The Attorney General must now act. The President must now act. INEC must obey the law and announce the final delineation result without further delay. Every day of silence deepens injustice. Every moment of hesitation insults the Supreme Court. Every second of delay undermines democracy. Warri has waited long enough. The majority has been suppressed long enough. The Constitution has been mocked long enough.

Announce the final delineation result NOW.

Signed,

Chief Tiemopere Joshua
(President)

Chief Ebikeke T. Goodstime
(Secretary)

Concerned Elders of Warri Federal Constituency (CEWFC)
For and on behalf of peace, truth and justice in the Niger Delta.

Cc:

The National Assembly of Nigeria

The Attorney General of the Federation

The Delta State Government

The Delta State House of Assembly