“Warri Is Not A Single Kingdom Belonging To The Itsekiris, It’s A Constituency With Seven Different Kingdoms”__

By Ebiowei Gabriel

OPEN LETTER FROM THE CONCERNED ELDERS OF WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY
DATE: 24/2/2026

TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA, THE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER AND THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC)

SEVEN KINGDOMS, ONE CONSTITUENCY, THE TRUTH ABOUT WARRI

We write not as agitators, not as political opportunists but as elders burdened by history and compelled by truth. We write because silence, at this point, would amount to complicity in distortion. Warri Federal Constituency is being slowly suffocated by a narrative that reduces a complex, multi-indigenous region into the domain of a single throne. That narrative is false, historically false, legally false and constitutionally unsustainable.

Let this be established clearly and permanently on record:

Warri is not a kingdom. Warri is a federal constituency composed of multiple indigenous kingdoms.

This is not rhetoric, it is law and documented fact.

Warri Federal Constituency comprises seven historically recognized kingdoms:

Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom

Gbaramatu Kingdom

Egbema Kingdom

Isaba Kingdom

Itsekiri Kingdom

Okere-Urhobo Kingdom

Agbarha Kingdom

Each of these kingdoms predates modern electoral arrangements. Each has defined territory, traditional authority and historical continuity. Under the Delta State Traditional Rulers and Chiefs framework, these monarchies stand independently. None is legally superior to the other. None exercises territorial jurisdiction over the others.

The persistent portrayal of Warri as a single ethnic kingdom is a political construction, not a historical reality.

Historically, early European accounts of the Niger Delta between 1485 and 1530, including those of Duarte Pacheco Pereira and Duarte Barbosa, described the riverine inhabitants of the western Delta as “Ijo” (Ijaw) communities controlling waterways and trade routes. These descriptions predate the formal consolidation of the Itsekiri monarchy under the Olu dynasty in the 16th century. This chronology is documented by scholars such as Prof. E.J. Alagoa, Prof. Obaro Ikime and other historians of the Niger Delta.

This does not erase the Itsekiri contribution to Warri. It simply establishes what serious scholarship affirms. Warri developed as a multi-ethnic coastal and riverine hub, not as a single homogeneous kingdom.

Demographically, the landmass distribution of Warri Federal Constituency clearly reflects that the Ijaw and Urhobo territories constitute substantial geographic and population presence across Warri South, Warri South-West, and Warri North. Electoral representation must reflect this demographic and geographic reality.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is unambiguous:

Section 14(2)(a): Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority.

Sections 71–76 and 112–116 mandate constituency delineation based on population and geographical considerations.

Section 287(1): The decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons.

The Supreme Court, in SC/CV/1033/2022, ordered a lawful delineation of Warri Federal Constituency. INEC conducted field verification. Communities were visited. Coordinates were taken. Population spread was assessed.

The work has been done.

The refusal to announce the final delineation result now raises grave constitutional and institutional questions. Silence in the face of completed lawful exercise undermines public confidence. A democracy cannot function on withheld truth.

We caution respectfully but firmly, Warri does not need institutional hesitation to inflame misunderstanding. What the region needs is clarity anchored in law. The Federal Government, the NSA and INEC must recognize that prolonged delay fuels suspicion and weakens trust in national institutions.

This is not a threat. It is a statement of reality.

Warri’s peace rests on recognition of plurality. Its stability rests on lawful representation. Its future rests on equity, not on narrative dominance.

We therefore demand calmly but unequivocally that, INEC announce the final delineation result in compliance with constitutional and judicial directives.

Warri is not a kingdom.
Warri is a city of kingdoms.
And its representation must reflect its full indigenous composition.

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

Civil Society Organizations

International Community