JUST IN: Coalition Group Writes Open Letter To INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Ojo Amupitan Over Warri Federal Constituency Delineation Report -

By Uche Alvin

OPEN LETTER ON THE WILFUL SABOTAGE OF THE FINAL WARD DELINEATION RESULT IN WARRI
DATE: 6/1/2026

To:
PROF. JOASH OJO AMUPITAN, SAN
Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
Abuja, Nigeria

We write this letter not as a courtesy, not as a dialogue and certainly not as a plea. We write in outrage, disappointment and moral disgust. What INEC under your chairmanship has chosen to do, or more accurately, has chosen not to do in Warri Federal Constituency is a textbook example of institutional decay. The continued refusal to publish the final ward delineation result is a disgrace to constitutional governance and a devastating indictment of INEC’s credibility as a neutral electoral body. What should have been a routine act of obedience to law has been converted into an embarrassing display of cowardice, bad faith and deliberate obstruction.

Let it be stated without restraint: INEC’s conduct in Warri has reduced the Commission from an electoral umpire to an accessory to constitutional sabotage. Your silence has not projected caution; it has projected fear. Your delay has not suggested professionalism; it has suggested compromise. An institution that sits on completed facts, verified fieldwork and binding judicial authority forfeits the moral right to speak about democracy, fairness or rule of law.
INEC’s image today in Warri is not that of a referee, it is that of a partisan actor hiding behind procedure to protect falsehood.

Legally, your position is indefensible. Section 1(1) of the Constitution establishes its supremacy. Section 1(3) makes it clear that any act or omission inconsistent with it is null and void. Section 235 leaves no ambiguity whatsoever: the decisions of the Supreme Court are final and binding on all authorities and persons. There is no exemption clause for INEC chairmen. There is no constitutional permission for delay after judgment. By refusing to publish the final delineation result, INEC is not exercising discretion; it is committing constitutional disobedience. And constitutional disobedience is not an administrative error, it is a breach of oath.

Let us be brutally honest: without the publication of the final delineation result, Warri has no legitimate Federal Constituency. What currently exists is a fraudulent structure kept alive by silence and sustained by fear of truth. Elections conducted on struck-out wards are illegal. Representation derived from them is illegitimate. Mandates produced from them are forgeries in democratic clothing. Any further electoral activity under this illegal framework exposes INEC and its leadership to direct responsibility for constitutional violations and their consequences.

History further damns this delay. The indigenous peoples of Warri (the Ijaws) were here first, this is established historical reality, not a negotiable narrative. Those who arrived later were accommodated; they were not owners. Administrative delay cannot convert tenancy into ownership. Institutional cowardice cannot rewrite centuries of settlement history. What INEC appears to be protecting through silence is not peace but a lie, one so fragile that it cannot survive the publication of facts already established on the ground.

The longer this delay persists, the clearer the motive becomes. No serious institution with clean hands hides completed work. No honest commission fears transparency. No credible electoral body sits on truth unless it is under pressure or complicit in distortion. INEC’s refusal to act has become evidence in itself, evidence of bias, evidence of compromise and evidence of abandonment of constitutional duty.
Professor, this letter places responsibility squarely where it belongs: on your desk. You are not shielded by the institution; you are accountable through it. History will not indict INEC in the abstract, it will record names. The law does not punish “commissions”; it punishes officials who abuse office, neglect duty or act in bad faith. Continued refusal to publish this result exposes INEC leadership to moral blame, legal scrutiny, and permanent reputational damage.

This is therefore a final constitutional demand. Publish the final ward delineation result immediately. Obey the Supreme Court without conditions. Restore lawful representation in Warri Federal Constituency. Anything short of this will permanently stain INEC as a commission that chose expediency over law, fear over duty and falsehood over truth.

The Constitution will outlive all of us. History will be unkind. And responsibility will not be shared, it will be personal.

Signed:

Chief Tiemopere Joshua
(President)

Chief Ebikeke T. Goodstime
(Secretary

Concerned Elders of Warri Federal Constituency
Warri, Delta State, Nigeria

Cc:
The President, Federal Republic of Nigeria

The National Security Adviser

The Senate President, National Assembly

The Speaker, House of Representatives

The Chief Justice of Nigeria

National and International Media

Civil Society and Pro-Democracy Organizations