“Your Continued Silence Is Dangerous, Implement The Warri Federal Constituency Delineation Report Now”__

By Esther David

OPEN LETTER TO THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC), ABUJA

From: Concerned Elders of Warri Federal Constituency
Date: 22 January 2026

Demography Is Not Negotiable, Publish the Final Ward Delineation Result Now

We write this letter with voices heavy from restraint and hearts burning with justified anger. We write because silence has been stretched too far and patience has been deliberately abused. What INEC is doing in Warri Federal Constituency has moved beyond administrative delay into the territory of open defiance. It is an insult to the Constitution, a provocation to democracy and a conscious mockery of the Supreme Court whose authority gives meaning to law and order in this country.

INEC completed the ward delineation fieldwork. INEC saw the communities. INEC verified the population spread. INEC compiled the data and produced the report. The truth was gathered openly, methodically and lawfully. Yet, after confirming that truth, INEC chose silence. That silence is not neutrality. It is contempt. It is a deliberate refusal to complete justice after justice has already been earned.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not a document to be admired and ignored. It is supreme. It binds every authority and every institution, including INEC. The Constitution commands obedience to the Supreme Court, not negotiation with its judgments. It demands that representation follow population reality, not political comfort. By withholding the final ward delineation result, INEC is standing in direct opposition to the very law that created it.

The demographic truth of Warri Federal Constituency is not in dispute. It has been established by history, confirmed by records and verified by INEC’s own fieldwork. The majority population was submerged for decades under distorted ward arrangements that favoured a minority through colonial residue and political manipulation. That injustice is what the Supreme Court addressed and corrected when it ordered a fresh delineation. INEC obeyed halfway, then froze at the edge of justice. Half obedience is still disobedience. Delay after completion is not caution; it is contempt dressed in bureaucracy.

This continued silence is dangerous. It freezes democratic participation. It erodes trust in institutions. It turns lawful citizens into spectators in their own political space. Democracy cannot survive where representation is denied and peace cannot endure where justice is deliberately postponed. What is being protected by this delay is not national stability but a fraudulent political arrangement that has long lost its moral and legal foundation.

INEC was not established to protect lies or preserve privilege. It was created to defend fairness, protect the vote and uphold democratic balance. What is happening in Warri Federal Constituency today is the opposite of democracy. It is minority dominance sustained by institutional silence. It is electoral injustice wrapped in administrative language.

We are a peace-loving people but peace does not mean surrender. Our silence has ended. There will be no credibility for any electoral activity conducted under struck-out and illegal ward structures. There will be no legitimacy for elections built on constitutional violation. There will be no peace sustained by fraud.

We therefore call on INEC to publish the final ward delineation result immediately and without alteration. Not tomorrow. Not after consultations. Not after pressure. Now. The Supreme Court has spoken. The Constitution has spoken. The facts have been gathered. What remains is obedience.

History is watching this moment. Nigeria is watching. The Niger Delta is watching. The world is recording. Institutions are remembered not by the power they hold but by the courage they show when justice demands action.

INEC must obey the Constitution.
INEC must obey the Supreme Court.
INEC must obey the conscience of the nation.

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 Federal Government of Nigeria

The National Security Adviser

The National Assembly of Nigeria

The Attorney-General of the Federation

The Delta State Government

The Delta State House of Assembly

Civil Society Organizations