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The Truth Advocates Of Niger Delta have written an Open Letter to INEC, the Federal Government, and the global community, demanding the immediate release of Warri Ward Delineation report and condemning elites interference, historical distortions, and constitutional violations against the Ijaw people.

Read details below:

“OPEN LETTER TO INEC, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY

From: The Truth Advocates Of Niger Delta

Title: “Truth Is Not Tribal – Stop Delaying Justice in Warri”

INTRODUCTION:

“When lies stand too long, they begin to sound like law”

“We write this letter not as agitators, but as children of a wounded truth, a truth long buried beneath colonial favoritism, royal propaganda and elite manipulation. Once again, the Itsekiri political class has taken to the public square, releasing a deceptive publications, manipulatives tactics, which dares to label the Ijaw people as “tenants” in their own ancestral lands. Such arrogant falsehoods are not just offensive; they are historically, legally and morally bankrupt.

“In a region soaked with the memory of injustice and survival, this is not the time for games. This is not the time for myths masked as history. This is not the time to twist public discourse with recycled colonial lies or stage-manage royalty as a weapon of political suppression.

“Let it be made clear: the Ijaw people of Warri Federal Constituency will not be lectured into silence. We will not be intimidated into accepting a borrowed throne, a forged map or a manipulated process.

“We come armed with evidence, not emotion. With archival records, not fantasies. With Supreme Court judgments, not tribal decrees. And we have come to speak for our ancestors, for our children and for the truth whose time has come again.

“This letter is not a plea. It is a rebuttal. It is not a protest. It is a declaration of resistance to historical theft and political blackmail. The truth must now walk unchained. And if this system dares to delay justice one more day, it must also be ready to answer for what comes next.

Let the facts speak. Let the lies collapse. Let the land remember.

“Everybody Sat at the Table — Nobody Should Flip It Now”

The process was inclusive from start to finish. Nobody was sidelined. INEC has the maps, the minutes, the signatures, the evidence. Every ethnic group was invited. Every group responded. Every group participated. But now, as the outcome edges closer to reflecting the demographic truth, suddenly those who once smiled at the process now cry foul. Let it be clear: those now playing the victim card are not doing so because of injustice, they are doing so because they can no longer suppress the numbers. The facts are stubborn: Ijaw communities not only outnumber Itsekiri settlements, they also host the majority of polling units, settlements and landmass in the Warris

INEC Ward Assessment Survey, 2022:
“Ijaw and Urhobo communities host more polling units and settlement clusters than Itsekiri enclaves.”

“The irony is loud, the very people who participated in this process and signed off on its methods, are now trying to flip the table because the mirror of data no longer flatters their dominance. This is not about fairness. It’s about fear, the fear of finally facing democracy without distortion.

“Hands Off the Process: Warning to Power Brokers Behind the Shadows”

“We will not sit idly by while unelected Itsekiri elites and power brokers attempt to hijack a constitutional process that was hard-won through lawful engagement and a Supreme Court victory. We call out, without hesitation, Mrs. Daisy Danjuma, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, and others lurking behind the curtains of influence, political actors who have never lived in our riverine communities, never participated in our sufferings and never attended the public hearings that led to INEC’s delineation efforts. These women did not walk the creeks of Ogbe-Ijoh, Gbaramatu, Isaba, Egbema etc. They did not submit memoranda to INEC. They did not participate in the verification tours of 2022–2023. Yet today, they move between Aso Rock and Abuja boardrooms, pressuring INEC to delay the release of a lawful report simply because it no longer protects a fraudulent ward structure that has kept Ijaw people politically suppressed for decades.

Premium Times, March 3, 2024:
“INEC’s final report on Warri wards stalls amid pressure from political elites close to the Presidency.”

Supreme Court Judgment – SC/CV/1033/2023 (Timinimi v. INEC):
“INEC’s prolonged inaction on the delineation process constitutes a violation of the Electoral Act and an infringement on the rights of underrepresented communities.”

“The involvement of these elites is not hidden, it is whispered in political circles and backed by the sudden and suspicious paralysis of a commission that had already concluded fieldwork and received all necessary inputs. Warri is not their inheritance. INEC is not their servant. The Constitution of Nigeria does not recognize tribal queenship, nor does it bend to whispers from those who are terrified that demographic justice will unseat decades of colonial privilege. The courts have spoken. The communities have spoken. The data has spoken. It is only these shadowy influencers who still cling to fear because they know that true delineation will expose the minority rule their crown depends on.

CO 554/120/5 – British Colonial Report, 1936:
“The agitation for the title ‘Olu of Warri’ has created tension in areas not historically under Itsekiri rule.”

Prof. Obaro Ikime – Groundwork of Nigerian History (1980):
“The political advantage granted to Itsekiri through colonial structures was disproportionate to their actual demographic spread.”

“Let it be known: Daisy Danjuma is not INEC. Oluremi Tinubu is not the Nigerian Constitution. The Itsekiri crown is not a federal institution. Warri belongs to all who have built it, suffered for it and defended it, not just those who inherited a title built on cartographic fraud. If this process is stalled again by shadow hands, then they, not the Ijaw people, will be held responsible for whatever national consequences follow. The law must prevail, not favoritism, not fear and certainly not the manipulations of privileged women hiding behind ancestry to silence a court-backed truth.

“OPC and Other Saboteurs: Stay Clear or Be Dragged by Consequences”

“We warn, without apology and without mincing words: OPC and every external saboteur must stay clear of Warri. This is not your land, not your fight and not your jurisdiction. You were not part of the pain, you were not part of the process and you will not be allowed to disrupt the justice we have lawfully pursued.

“You were absent from the INEC delineation hearings.
You have no ancestral ties to Ogbe-Ijoh, Gbaramatu, Agbassa or Okere.
You are not party to Timinimi v. INEC (SC/CV/1033/2023).
You do not know the creeks. You do not know the struggle.
And you will not be allowed to hijack the future of a people you do not understand.

“If you think that releasing provocative letters, issuing threats or marching under the banner of regional chauvinism will stop a Supreme Court-backed process, then your arrogance is only matched by your ignorance. This is not Lagos politics, this is Warri. And in Warri, we do not bow to strangers. We confront them.

“Let it be made clear: any further attempt by OPC or their sponsors to interfere in the ongoing delineation exercise will be treated not as civil dissent, but as a direct threat to peace, justice and constitutional order in the Niger Delta.

“We have warned once. There will be no second warning. If you cross the line, you will be met with consequences.

We are peaceful. We are lawful. But we are not weak.
Respect your boundaries or be dragged by the consequences.

“You Cannot Hide Under Royalty to Suppress Truth”

“We reject, with historical certainty and legal clarity, the manipulative tactic of using the title “Olu of Warri” as a shield to obstruct constitutional justice and suppress demographic truth. The attempt to invoke emotional reverence for a throne whose origin is rooted in colonial deception is not only dishonest, it is dangerous. The title “Olu of Warri” was not an ancient reality but a colonial creation in 1952, when British administrators, under pressure from the Itsekiri elite, deliberately altered the accurate tribal title “Olu of Itsekiri” to “Olu of Warri”, in order to extend influence over areas never historically or culturally under Itsekiri control. This was met with immediate resistance by the Ijaw and Urhobo peoples, who rightly rejected the imposed sovereignty of a king they never accepted.

CO 554/120/5 – British Colonial Office File, 1952:
“The change to ‘Olu of Warri’ has generated intense resistance from the Ijaw and Urhobo who are not subjects of the Olu.”

“Prof. Philip A. Igbafe, “Benin Under British Administration,” (1979):
“The Olu’s authority was historically confined to Itsekiri-speaking communities and was never recognized across the multi-ethnic Warri region.”

“This throne does not speak for Warri. It does not represent the Ijaw or Urhobo peoples. It cannot rewrite history and it cannot override a court ruling. Yet, we continue to see the Itsekiri establishment invoke this crown, embellished with colonial mythology as if it were a federal institution capable of overruling the Supreme Court’s decision in Timinimi v. INEC (SC/CV/1033/2023). But Nigeria is a constitutional republic, not a monarchy. Our democracy is governed by law, not inherited titles. The Olu of Warri may command cultural reverence among his people, but he does not and cannot wield authority over territories historically and legally affirmed to belong to others.

Shell v. Tiebo VII (1996) 4 NWLR (Pt. 445) 657:
“The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Ijaw people of Gbaramatu as rightful owners of the Escravos land, rejecting Itsekiri ownership claims.

Chief E.E. Sillo & Ors v. Military Governor of Mid-Western State (1973):
“The court struck down Itsekiri attempts to claim Ogbe-Ijoh land, reaffirming Ijaw ownership.

Ojakovo v. Ajomiwe (1961):
“The court recognized Urhobo ownership of Okere lands, dismissing Itsekiri encroachment.

“So when the Itsekiri elite rally behind the Olu’s throne as though it is a sacred wall against reform, let it be known: you cannot hide under royalty to block a Supreme Court order, delay INEC’s constitutional duty or silence the ancestral rights of the Ijaw peoples. That title has no jurisdiction outside Itsekiri territory. It does not grant you dominion over other nations. It does not bestow the right to distort boundaries, hijack ward structures or control federal institutions through ancestral cosplay.

“The colonial fiction of a pan-Warri monarchy has expired. The legal record is clear. The map is clearer. Warri is not a theocracy. Nigeria is not beholden to a tribal crown. And no king, no matter how adorned or amplified by propaganda, can cancel justice sealed by the Constitution.

“Let the process move forward. Let INEC do its duty. Let the truth breathe. Because this time, no borrowed throne can suppress it.

“Let The Truth Speak”

“You have no population. You have no physical landmass. What you parade around with are fake documents, inflated maps and a manufactured internet presence that collapses under the weight of reality. INEC saw through the lies. INEC walked the land. INEC entered the creeks. INEC countedthe settlements. And what they found was not digital propaganda, they found the truth: that the Ijaw people overwhelmingly occupy the lands of Warri Federal Constituency.

“Your manipulated census figures, ghost communities and political blackmail cannot stand against the facts on the ground. You cannot use colonial relics and forged claims to override the constitutional authority of lawful demarcation.

“Let it be made abundantly clear: INEC must stand by the truth it uncovered. Any attempt to reverse, delay or alter that truth because of ethnic tantrums or elite pressure will not be seen as politics, it will be seen as an assault on justice.

“And justice cannot be negotiated.
Anything short of that truth will be considered a declaration of war on our identity, our rights and our future.

“We are watching. We are counting. And we will not allow fake maps to erase living people. Let the process speak. Let the truth stand.

“The Desperation Of Time Bomb”

“Every covert scheme and overt maneuver to halt the delineation process has been noticed and documented. From clandestine arms stockpiling to shameless gunrunning, from veiled threats to INEC officials to orchestrated media blackmail, the desperation is loud and dangerous. We have seen Itsekiri agitators shuttle from palace to palace, running from one monarch to another across Nigeria in a bid to manufacture tribal sympathy for a fraudulent cause. We have watched the strategic mobilization of ethnic militias and the release of inflammatory publications and petitions recklessly addressed to INEC an agency constitutionally protected from tribal interference. All these acts are not the behaviors of a people confident in truth or justice, they are the acts of a group terrified of demographic exposure and legal finality.

Vanguard Newspaper, July 2025:
“OPC letter to INEC warns of unrest in Warri if the delineation result favors other ethnic groups.”

Timinimi v. INEC (SC/CV/1033/2023):
“The Commission is compelled by law to conclude and publish the outcome of the delineation process in accordance with population distribution and constitutional equity.”

“We say this without mincing words: every manipulation is being tracked, every move is being watched like a ticking time bomb. We do not wish for conflict. We do not pray for a repeat of 1997, 2003, or the other dark chapters of ethnic unrest in Warri. But if push comes to shove, if justice is denied and the Supreme Court is undermined, we will not fold our arms and let history erase us again.

“Let those orchestrating delays understand this clearly: we are peace-loving but we are not powerless. We are patient but we are not blind. We are committed to democracy but we are not cowards. If truth is once again ambushed in the name of tribal appeasement, the consequences will not be poetic and the architects of injustice will bear the blame before God, history, and the Nigerian people.

“Let INEC publish the final delineation. Let the Constitution prevail. And let all those who still believe they can bully a federal process with crowns, chaos and covert threats know, we are ready to defend truth with everything our ancestors left in our blood.

“Stop Betraying History”

“The truth is not for sale, and it cannot be buried under crowns, propaganda or centuries of revisionism. The Itsekiri elite continue to repeat a worn-out lie, that they are the aboriginal owners of Warri lands, that they were never strangers and that their monarchy predates all others. But history, real history, not the fairy tales printed in royal pamphlets says otherwise. Ginuwa, your so-called founder, was not a king sent to found a kingdom. He was a Benin fugitive, exiled with a few followers after internal strife in the palace. He was given refuge, not territory. He entered a land already inhabited by the Ijaw, Urhobo and other aboriginal Niger Delta peoples who had settled in the riverine zones for centuries before his arrival.

Prof. P.A. Talbot, “The Peoples of Southern Nigeria,” Vol. II (1926):
“The Itsekiri trace their origin to a Benin prince who settled among Ijaw and other tribes in the lower Niger region.”

National Archives CSO 26/Vol. 6/08549:
“Initial land agreements show Ijaw and Urhobo chiefs as the signatories and landlords, with the Itsekiri mentioned only as witnesses or settlers.”

“The claim that Itsekiri gave wives, land and sanctuary to the Ijaw is a complete inversion of historical reality. It was the Ijaw who allowed Ginuwa to stay. It was Ijaw communities who permitted settlement through treaties and customary recognition, not conquest.

CO 554/124/3 – Governor’s Dispatch to London, 1938:
“The Itsekiri do not possess proprietary rights over Ijaw or Urhobo territory; their claims are political in nature, not customary.”

“Your claims of ownership have already been crushed repeatedly in the courts. From Shell v. Tiebo VII (1996) where the Supreme Court affirmed Ijaw ownership of the Escravos lands, to Sillo v. Military Governor of Midwestern State (1973) which reaffirmed Ogbe-Ijoh as Ijaw territory, the legal system has repeatedly exposed the myth of Itsekiri overlordship.

“Even colonial officers acknowledged the fraud when the title “Olu of Warri” was introduced in 1952 to expand your influence beyond your ethnic boundary.

CO 554/120/5 – British Colonial Office File, 1952:
“The change to ‘Olu of Warri’ has generated intense resistance from the Ijaw and Urhobo who are not subjects of the Olu.”

“So let us speak plainly. You were strangers, not sovereigns. You were harbored, not crowned by the people. You were protected, not enthroned. And now, centuries later, you betray the memory of those who gave you space by claiming to be their landlords?

“Stop the betrayal. Stop twisting what your ancestors couldn’t even write down. We are not fooled by garments, palace gates or media declarations. You do not own what you were given by grace. And no crown made in exile can claim the lands of a people who have lived here since before the rise of Benin itself.

“We are not rewriting history. We are restoring it. And this time, the truth will speak so loudly that not even stolen titles can silence it.

“Delay is betrayal”

Today, INEC has become the chief enabler of ethnic injustice in Warri. The Supreme Court ruling in Timinimi v. INEC (SC/CV/1033/2023) was crystal clear: complete the ward delineation for Warri South-West in accordance with the Constitution, population spread and democratic equity. There was no ambiguity, no conditionality, no room for tribal bargaining.

Supreme Court Judgment (SC/CV/1033/2023):
“INEC cannot indefinitely delay the exercise. Continued inaction violates the Constitution and disenfranchises communities entitled to equitable representation.”

“But what have we witnessed since that judgment? Deafening silence. INEC, a federal commission that should be above ethnic and political interference, is now acting like a captured institution, mute, docile, evasive. The body that once claimed to be the “umpire of democracy” now flinches at the roar of a borrowed crown. And we ask, without apology: who is holding INEC hostage? Who is threatening the Commission into silence?

“We know the answer. We’ve seen the visits. We’ve tracked the lobbyists. We’ve read the letters from elites with no electoral constituency, no connection to the creeks, and no loyalty to constitutional justice. It is a clique of unelected Itsekiri power brokers, backed by shadowy Abuja influence, who are twisting arms behind the scenes, begging for delay because the truth terrifies them.

Premium Times, March 3, 2024:
“Pressure from political allies of the Itsekiri elite is behind INEC’s delay in releasing the final delineation report for Warri.”

“Let’s be clear: delay is not neutrality; it is complicity. INEC’s failure to act is fueling suspicion, tension and ethnic division. Every day of silence is another match near the keg. And if conflict erupts again, if Warri burns as it did in 1997, it will be because INEC betrayed justice in slow motion.

“You cannot claim independence while bowing to tribal lobbyists. You cannot preach democracy while undermining the court. The Supreme Court has spoken. The Constitution is not tribal. Delineation is not a gift to be negotiated, it is a legal duty. INEC must rise or it will fall with the very crisis it is now nurturing through cowardice.

“Let the wards be released. Let the truth be drawn on the map. Let justice speak before silence becomes violence and uncontrollable violence.

“Our Final Warning”

“We warn: the patience of our people is not infinite. For years, the Ijaw people of Warri Federal Constituency have endured marginalization, historical distortions, land dispossession and political manipulation disguised as tradition. We have engaged the system through peaceful means. We have gone to court and won. We have participated in every stage of the INEC delineation process with civility and legality. Yet what do we receive in return? Insults. Lies. Delays. And now, veiled threats hidden behind crowns and press statements.

“We see the coordinated moves, the gunrunning, the regional lobbying, the media blackmail, the politicized letters from the OPC, the closed-door meetings with palace actors. All in a bid to derail a Supreme Court-backed process and protect a false narrative that no longer holds water. We say this without stammering: enough is enough. Do not mistake our civility for weakness. The Ijaw peoples are peace-loving but we are not powerless. We are patient, but not forgetful. We have resisted colonizers before, we will resist internal subjugation again if force.

“Our Demands”

“Our demands are not emotional. They are constitutional, legal and moral:

“We demand that INEC immediately release the final ward delineation report as ordered by the Supreme Court in Timinimi v. INEC (SC/CV/1033/2023).

“We demand that no ethnic group, traditional title or political figure, elected or unelected be allowed to override the rule of law through threats, manipulation or historical fraud.

“We demand that the Nigerian state stop enabling a minority ethnic oligarchy to dominate territories where they are neither the owners nor the majority.

“We demand respect for the ancestral lands of the Ijaw peoples, as reaffirmed in court decisions like Shell v. Tiebo VII (1996), Sillo v. Military Governor (1973), and colonial reports such as CO 554/124/3, which made it clear: “The Itsekiri possess no customary ownership over Ijaw lands.”

“We demand the protection of democracy in Warri, not as a slogan but as a living, breathing reality reflected in ward boundaries, polling units and electoral justice.

“Conclusion”

The truth is not tribal. The Constitution is not ceremonial. The map of Warri must reflect its true people, not the fantasies of those hiding behind a throne created in 1952. The Ijaw communities will no longer be tenants in a land where our ancestors fished, farmed, fought and flourished long before Ginuwa fled Benin.

“Let justice speak now or history will remember those who silenced it.

“Signed:

Dr, Victory Oghenekvwe

Chief, Empire Ebiowei

The Truth Advocates Of Niger Delta”

“Cc:

Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Chief Justice of Nigeria

National Security Adviser

Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS)

Attorney General of the Federation

Delta State Governor

President, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide

President, Urhobo Progress Union (UPU)

Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)

European Union Observer Mission to Nigeria

African Union Commission

United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS)

British High Commission, Abuja

United States Embassy, Abuja

ECOWAS Election Monitoring Group

Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)

Transition Monitoring Group (TMG)

Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism

Global Rights Nigeria

Niger Delta Watchdogs

Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency

All Sons and Daughters of the Niger Delta”

In closing, the group insisted that democracy must reflect democratic reality, not colonial myths or Royal manipulation. They warned that continued delay by INEC is no longer seen as neutrality but as betrayal-vowing to defend their ancestral and constitutional rights and legal victories with unwavering resolve.