MEMORANDUM ON THE HISTORICAL FALSEHOOD AND POLITICAL SABOTAGE IN WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY

From: Ijaw Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency

Date: July 27, 2025

To: The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, INEC Chairman, National Security Adviser, International Observers, and All Democratic Institutions

INTRODUCTION: THE BATTLE FOR WARRI IS A BATTLE FOR TRUTH

This memorandum is issued as a formal rejection of the historical distortions, elite manipulations and institutional sabotage currently threatening peace and justice in Warri Federal Constituency. The situation is no longer an electoral issue, it is a crisis of national conscience.

For decades, the Ijaw and Urhobo people of Warri have suffered systematic erasure under the weight of colonial lies, state-sponsored favoritism and a minority elite class that continues to manipulate facts, maps and power.

We write today with anger, not as agitators but as custodians of the truth.

1. COLONIAL RECORDS CONFIRM IJAWS AND URHOBOS AS INDIGENOUS TO WARRI

Our second source is drawn directly from the British Colonial Handbook of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate, 1904, which states:

> “The natives belong to the Ijaws and Sobo [Urhobo] tribes, with a small but influential settlement of the Jekris.”

Let that sink in:

In 1904, the Ijaws and Urhobos were already established natives, while the Itsekiris (then referred to as “Jekris”) were described as a small settler population, specifically in Ugbuwangue, a coastal enclave favoured by European traders due to proximity.

This record was not written by an Ijaw man or an Urhobo elder, it was written by the British Colonial Government, long before the invention of the “Olu of Warri” title in 1952.

2. THE ITSEKIRIS WERE NOT ORIGINAL OWNERS—THEY WERE GRANTED LAND BY IJAWS

The first major Itsekiri settlement at Ode-Itsekiri was a land grant, not a conquest. As recorded by Portuguese explorer Pacheco Pereira in 1485:

> “The Benin River is inhabited by people called Ijos, fishermen and traders settled before the Warree River mouth.”

— Roteiro do Mar Roxo e da Costa da Mina (1485)

The Itsekiri monarchy began with Ginuwa, a fugitive prince from Benin. He was received by Ijaw hosts, given land and married into the Ijaw clan. This is a documented historical and oral fact, acknowledged in British, Portuguese and even Itsekiri oral traditions before they began whitewashing it.

3. COURT JUDGMENTS REJECT ITSEKIRI OVERLORDSHIP CLAIMS

The Itsekiri elite constantly peddle a fraudulent narrative of ownership. But landmark legal judgments have exposed and defeated this lie:

Chief E. E. Sillo & Ors. v. Chief Dore Numa & Ors. (1934, Privy Council):

Ruled that the Itsekiri overlordship claim over Ogbe-Ijoh land was invalid.

> “The plaintiffs (Ijaws) are in possession of the land and the defendants have no title or control over them.”

Atake v. Apena (1994) 9 NWLR (Pt. 368) 379:

Declared that Itsekiris could not claim exclusive rights over communal lands within Warri.

These rulings remain binding precedents. Ijaw and Urhobo lands are not under any Itsekiri kingdom.

4. THE “OLU OF WARRI” TITLE IS A POLITICAL FABRICATION

The very title “Olu of Warri” is a post-independence invention, designed to fraudulently extend Itsekiri jurisdiction over the entire Warri region.

Prior to 1952, the monarch was officially called the “Olu of Itsekiri”, representing only the Itsekiri ethnic group.

The Western House of Assembly debates (1952) confirm that Urhobo leader Chief Mukoro Mowoe objected vehemently to the name change.

This was not a historical correction, it was a colonial conspiracy to elevate a minority tribe to lordship over indigenous majority communities.

5. THE TRUTH ABOUT SETTLEMENT AND DEMOGRAPHY

Who are the real “settlers”?

The Ijaws of Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh, Isaba, Diebiri, Egbema etc have lived on this land for over five centuries.

The Urhobos have inhabited Agbarha, Okere, and Uvwie long before the Olu’s influence spread.

The Itsekiris were limited to the coastal trading posts and their expansion came with the help of British gunboats and maps.

To now call the original landowners “tenants” is not only offensive, it is historically criminal.

6. THE INEC DELINEATION: A THREAT TO A DYING SUPREMACY

INEC’s ward delineation followed the Supreme Court judgment in Timimini v. INEC (SC/CV/1033/2023). The Commission visited over 100 communities and documented the actual number of settlements, polling units and voting population.

Now that the result does not favor the Itsekiri minority, their elite have begun threatening war, calling for arrest of INEC staff and demanding the erasure of Ijaw and Urhobo names from the map.

This is not democracy. It is elite desperation wrapped in tribal entitlement.

7. DAISY DANJUMA & FIRST LADY’S INTERFERENCE: A NATIONAL DANGER

We have credible intelligence that Mrs. Daisy Danjuma, a known Itsekiri elite, and the First Lady of Nigeria are using state connections to block the release of INEC’s final delineation report.

Let the world take note: If Warri erupts again, the blood will be on the hands of these powerful women, who used influence to suppress truth and reignite a long-dormant crisis.

8. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH — THE IJAW AND URHOBO PEOPLE WILL NOT BE ERASED

We have waited. We have followed the law. We won in court. And now, we demand:

OUR DEMANDS

Immediate publication of the INEC final delineation report for Warri Federal Constituency.

Federal investigation into all individuals, including Daisy Danjuma, interfering in INEC operations.

Withdrawal of the fraudulent title “Olu of Warri” and restoration to the historical “Olu of Itsekiri.”

Full recognition of all Ijaw and Urhobo settlements documented in INEC’s fieldwork.

Prosecution of groups issuing threats of violence or invoking another Okuama-style conflict.

CONCLUSION: THE TRUTH IS NOT A THREAT — IT IS A CURE

To those who say this truth is provocative, we say, it is your lie that provoked us.

We will not kneel to a crown made in 1952.

We will not accept maps drawn with Itsekiri ink and colonial compasses.

We will not be erased from our own land by those who came after us and called themselves kings.

Let the records show:

We are the Ijaw.

We are the Urhobo.

We are the indigenous owners of Warri.

And we will not be silenced.

Signed,

Hon. Simon Ovie

(Chairman)

Chief, Marvellous Keme

(Spokesman)

The Warri Movement

Cc:

The Presidency

INEC Chairman

National Security Adviser

Director-General, DSS

ECOWAS/AU Observers

Nigerian Bar Association

African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Ijaw National Congress

Urhobo Progress Union

Global Media & Civil Society