{"id":4415,"date":"2025-07-15T16:45:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T16:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/index.php\/2025\/07\/15\/the-myth-of-itsekiri-ownership-of-warri-a-colonial-invention-unraveled___ijaw-stakeholders-group\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:45:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T16:45:29","slug":"the-myth-of-itsekiri-ownership-of-warri-a-colonial-invention-unraveled___ijaw-stakeholders-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/index.php\/2025\/07\/15\/the-myth-of-itsekiri-ownership-of-warri-a-colonial-invention-unraveled___ijaw-stakeholders-group\/","title":{"rendered":"The Myth Of Itsekiri Ownership Of Warri: A Colonial Invention Unraveled___Ijaw Stakeholders Group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

IJAW STAKEHOLDERS OF WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRUTH-TELLING MEMORANDUM TO NIGERIANS, INEC AND THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Date: July 15, 2025
RE: HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL TRUTH-TELLING IN WARRI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE MYTH OF ITSEKIRI OWNERSHIP OF WARRI: A COLONIAL INVENTION UNRAVELED<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is time to break the wickedness of centuries. Warri, the multi-ethnic region sitting on the ancestral lands of Ijaw and Urhobo peoples, has for too long suffered the historical deception and administrative violence birthed by colonial mischief and perpetuated by a small minority by the Itsekiris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no “Itsekiri Kingdom of Warri” before colonialism. What existed were Ijaw and Urhobo communities thriving in their own governance systems. The arrival of Ginuwa, an exiled Bini prince around the late 15th century, marked the importation of a foreign monarchy, not the founding of Warri. Ginuwa landed at Ijala, an Ijaw town and was hosted, not conquered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe Itsekiri kingdom, as styled today, is a colonial construct rather than a legitimate precolonial dominion.\u201d
\u2014 Prof. J.F. Ade-Ajayi, \u201cColonialism and the Falsehood of Ethnic Supremacy\u201d (1972)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

IJAW LAND, ITSEKIRI LIES: TRACING THE TRUE ANCESTRY OF WARRI TERRITORY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ijaw settlements like Ogbe-Ijoh, Gbaramatu, Isaba, Okerenkoko, Egbema and Egbokodo predate the Olu\u2019s presence in the region. The earliest British maps (e.g. 1846, Stanford\u2019s Colonial Atlas) and intelligence reports clearly mark these areas as Ijaw and Urhobo territories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Colonial Officer M.C. Smart in 1933 wrote:
\u201cThere is no historical evidence that the Olu or his agents exercised political control over Gbaramatu or the Forcados River areas.\u201d
(Intelligence Report on Gbaramatu Clan, NAI CSO 26\/2 27036)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So where lies the ownership claim of the Itsekiris? Only in colonial favoritism, where British officials, preferring a monarch they could manipulate, conferred undue recognition on the Olu of Warri to serve indirect rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOW THE BRITISH EMPOWERED THE MINORITY: THE OLU OF WARRI AND THE WARPED COLONIAL LEGACY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The British, in a 1936 Ordinance, officially recognized the Olu of Warri but not as a territorial overlord. That colonial \u201crecognition\u201d was purely administrative, to facilitate taxation and communication, not to confer ownership over land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Supreme Court Judgment (Suit No. W\/148\/1962):
\u201cThe Olu of Warri holds no title over Gbaramatu lands; the Ijaw people are in continuous, uninterrupted occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the 1958 Report of the Willink Commission acknowledged the marginalization of the Ijaw people, cautioning that administrative classifications should not become tools of dispossession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE REAL HISTORY OF WARRI: BEFORE GINUWA, BEFORE THE OLU<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The region now called Warri was once referred to as \u201cNana\u2019s Domain,\u201d recognizing Chief Nana Olomu, an Itsekiri merchant, but not a king. Before him and Ginuwa, the lands were populated by indigenous clans, Ijaws in the south and Urhobos in the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

British Intelligence Report, 1908:
\u201cThe Ijaws of the Forcados and Escravos regions are independent fishing and trading communities. They do not owe allegiance to the Olu.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It was only in the 1950s that the title \u201cOlu of Warri\u201d was fraudulently extended to imply ownership of the whole of Warri Division, despite strong opposition by the Urhobo and Ijaw leaders of the time, which is not still recognize by the Ijaws and the Urhobos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IJAW RESISTANCE AND THE FIGHT AGAINST ITSEKIRI TERRITORIAL HIJACK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Ijaw Youth Council\u2019s Kaiama Declaration (1998) to recent court victories, the Ijaw people have consistently resisted Itsekiri territorial encroachment. We have buried our martyrs in the struggle for land, identity, and justice, from the Warri crises of 1997-2003 to the legal battles of the 2010s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Appeal Court Judgment CA\/B\/78\/2010:
\u201cOgbe-Ijoh is an Ijaw community with no historical, traditional, or legal subservience to the Olu of Warri.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

REBUTTALS & EXPOS\u00c9S<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FAKE CROWN, FAKE LAND: THE MANUFACTURED KINGDOM OF THE ITSEKIRIS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current Itsekiri crown is not a natural evolution of indigenous kingship. It is a foreign fabrication, built on Portuguese missionary myths, embellished with colonial endorsements. The 1952 renaming of the “Olu of Itsekiri” to \u201cOlu of Warri\u201d was an act of cultural piracy and geopolitical fraud, intended to lay false claim to the entire Warri Province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHY THE ITSEKIRIS FEAR DELINEATION: THE DEATH OF A LIE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INEC\u2019s ward delineation exercise threatens to expose the demographic fraud the Itsekiris have benefited from for decades. With less than 5% of the population in Warri Federal Constituency, the Itsekiris are desperate to retain artificial electoral advantages through media blackmail and institutional intimidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHO IS BANKROLLING ITSEKIRI SUPREMACY? OIL POLITICS, LOBBY NETWORKS & FOREIGN HANDS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ask: who is bankrolling the relentless Itsekiri lawsuits? Which foreign oil interests, still bitter over community agitation, are silently propping up the Itsekiri elite to suppress the landowners? These questions demand urgent national and international investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE LANDLORDS OF PROPAGANDA: HOW THE ITSEKIRIS HOLD WARRI DEMOCRACY HOSTAGE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From hijacking LG headquarters to planting misleading narratives in global media, the Itsekiri propaganda machinery is a well-oiled weapon of dominance. Their goal? To silence the majority and keep the world blind to the truth of Ijaw and Urhobo sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Late Chief Harold Dappa-Biriye once said:
\u201cThe greatest injustice in the Niger Delta is not oil theft. It is land theft.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

UNMASKING THE ITSEKIRI HISTORICAL FRONT: LIES, LAWSUITS, AND LOST LEGITIMACY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The so-called Itsekiri Historical Front is not a body of historians. It is a political gang masquerading as scholars, whose every publication is a cocktail of distorted colonial documents, half-truths, and outright fabrications intended to intimidate INEC, foreign embassies and the Nigerian public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CALL TO ACTION<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hereby call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Federal Government of Nigeria to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Complete the ward delineation exercise in Warri Federal Constituency based on population and true indigenous ownership;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Revert the title “Olu of Warri” to “Olu of Itsekiri”, as it was before 1952;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Recognize Ijaw and Urhobo ancestral ownership of Warri lands, in line with court decisions, census records and colonial maps;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Stop rewarding falsehood with political advantage.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Signed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Chief Tiemopere Joshua (President)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Chief Ebikeke T. Goodstime
    (Secretary)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ijaw Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Cc:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Presidency, Federal Republic of Nigeria<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    National Assembly (Senate & House of Representatives)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    INEC Chairman, Abuja<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    British High Commission<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    United Nations Indigenous Peoples Desk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Amnesty International, Nigeria Desk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Global Indigenous Rights Caucus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Esther David IJAW STAKEHOLDERS OF WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY TRUTH-TELLING MEMORANDUM TO NIGERIANS, INEC AND…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[1182],"class_list":["post-4415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-the-myth-of-itsekiri-ownership-of-warri-a-colonial-invention-unraveled___ijaw-stakeholders-group"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0325-3-1.jpg?fit=569%2C762&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4411,"url":"https:\/\/coastaltimes.com.ng\/index.php\/2025\/07\/14\/group-makes-rebuttal-to-publication-made-by-itsekiri-historical-front-says-the-great-lies-of-warri-will-be-exposed\/","url_meta":{"origin":4415,"position":0},"title":"Group 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