{"id":4229,"date":"2025-07-01T17:25:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/ward-delineation-federal-high-court-dismisses-suite-filed-by-itsekiris-describes-suite-as-gross-abuse-of-court-process-and-has-no-merit\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T17:25:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:25:48","slug":"ward-delineation-federal-high-court-dismisses-suite-filed-by-itsekiris-describes-suite-as-gross-abuse-of-court-process-and-has-no-merit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/index.php\/2025\/07\/01\/ward-delineation-federal-high-court-dismisses-suite-filed-by-itsekiris-describes-suite-as-gross-abuse-of-court-process-and-has-no-merit\/","title":{"rendered":"WARD DELINEATION: Federal High Court Dismisses Suite Filed By Itsekiris, Describes Suite As Gross Abuse Of Court Process And Has No Merit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Esther David<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out a suit initiated by Itsekiri stakeholders to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Warri federal constituency delineation exercise in Delta State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suit, marked FHC\/ABJ\/443\/2024, was filed by Hon. Appearance Afejuku and Mr. Emmanuel Nunu, Secretary of Warri South Local Government Area, against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judgment delivered on Monday by Justice Omotosho stated that the suit was a gross abuse of court process and lacked merit.
However, the court struck out the case in its entirety and awarded a total cost of \u20a64 million against the plaintiffs, payable with interest at 10% per annum until the judgment sum is fully settled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recall, the plaintiffs had earlier sought an injunction restraining INEC from embarking on a fresh delineation exercise within Warri South, Warri North, and Warri South-West Local Government Areas. The application was seen by many as a move to prevent long-demanded electoral reforms aimed at addressing allegations of political imbalance and underrepresentation of some ethnic groups within the constituency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the ruling is expected to pave the way for INEC to proceed with the long-delayed delineation of electoral boundaries within the Warri axis, a development that has been at the center of heated debate in Delta State for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the dismissal of this suit, stakeholders across the region are now anticipating the next steps from INEC regarding timelines and modalities for the implementation of the delineation exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was gathered the ruling was widely viewed as a legal victory for communities and advocacy groups who have, for years, pushed for equitable electoral representation in the Warri Federal Constituency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Esther David The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out a suit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[1064,1063],"class_list":["post-4229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-describes-suite-as-gross-abuse-of-court-process-and-has-no-merit","tag-ward-delineation-federal-high-court-dismisses-suite-filed-by-itsekiris"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_0443-1.jpg?fit=282%2C178&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3592,"url":"https:\/\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/index.php\/2025\/06\/25\/ward-delineation-our-victory-in-court-cannot-be-denied-says-concerned-indigenous-stakeholders-of-warri-federal-constituency-urges-inec-not-to-fall-for-manipulations-of-itsekiris\/","url_meta":{"origin":4229,"position":0},"title":"WARD DELINEATION: \u201cOur Victory In Court Cannot Be Denied\u201d Says Concerned Indigenous Stakeholders Of Warri Federal Constituency, Urges INEC Not To Fall For Manipulations Of Itsekiris","author":"Freeborn Abraye","date":"June 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Uche Alvin PRESS RELEASE CONCERNED INDIGENOUS STAKEHOLDERS OF WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY ENOUGH OF THE MANIPULATION! INEC MUST BE ALLOWED TO DO ITS JOB We rise today with a loud and anguished cry against the continued deliberate delay and suppression of justice in the Warri Federal Constituency delineation exercise. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0228-1.jpg?fit=235%2C214&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4524,"url":"https:\/\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/index.php\/2025\/07\/24\/advocacy-group-faults-inecs-proposed-continuous-voter-registration-exercise-without-implementing-warri-federal-constituency-ward-delineation-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":4229,"position":1},"title":"Advocacy Group Faults INEC\u2019s Proposed Continuous Voter Registration Exercise Without Implementing Warri Federal Constituency Ward Delineation Report","author":"Freeborn Abraye","date":"July 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u200eBy Uche Alvin OPEN LETTER TO THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC)\u200eRE: ILLEGALITY OF COMMENCING THE 2025 CONTINUOUS VOTER REGISTRATION IN WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY WITHOUT IMPLEMENTATION OF WARD DELINEATION, AS MANDATED BY THE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA.\u200e\u200eThe Chairman,\u200eIndependent National Electoral Commission (INEC),\u200eINEC Headquarters, Abuja, Nigeria.\u200eSir,\u200e\u200eWe write to formally express grave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_0448-1-1.jpg?fit=686%2C386&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_0448-1-1.jpg?fit=686%2C386&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/img_0448-1-1.jpg?fit=686%2C386&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 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