Title: “When the Wolf Cries Victim: The Hypocrisy of Omolubi’s Itsekiri SOS”

From: The Ijaw Stakeholders of Warri Federal Constituency

Date: August 5, 2025

INTRODUCTION: DECEPTION DRESSED IN DISTRESS

We have read with seething outrage the recent SOS letter issued by Mr. Omolubi Newuwumi, a man who shamelessly dons the cloak of “human rights advocate” while gaslighting the world with falsehoods rooted in colonial privilege, legal distortions and ethnic manipulation.

Let us make it abundantly clear: this is not a cry for justice, it is a desperate last-minute propaganda stunt from a minority elite group trying to cover up decades of oppression against the Ijaw and Urhobo peoples in Warri. This is not a call for peace, it is a smokescreen to distract from their historical fraud, demographic minority status and now crumbling political monopoly.

1. WHO IS OPPRESSING WHO? THE COLONIAL FAVOURITE PLAYING VICTIM

Newuwumi dares to call the Itsekiris “the most oppressed tribe in Nigeria.” What a travesty of truth! This is a people who:

Were singularly elevated by British colonialists in 1928 through W.D.G. Young’s Report, which declared the Olu as a ruler over all of Warri, a blatant falsehood rejected by indigenous Warri tribes and corrected by protests and administrative reviews.

Had their title changed from “Olu of Itsekiri” to “Olu of Warri” in 1952 by Governor Arthur Richards without the consent of Ijaw and Urhobo communities, an illegal renaming that violated ethnic sovereignty.

Received special colonial leases and land recognitions from figures like Chief Dore Numa, acting as intermediaries for British interests, including the notorious 1926 Omagbemi v. Dore Numa case that exposed how lands belonging to Ijaws were fraudulently leased by Itsekiri chiefs without ancestral rights.

Were gifted 8 WARDS in Warri South-West LGA while the Ijaws, the majority, had only 2 and Urhobos none. This egregious injustice continued until the Supreme Court decision in Timinimi v. INEC (SC/CV/1033/2023) ordered proper delineation to reflect demographic and ancestral realities.

Who then is truly oppressed? The beneficiary of colonial excess or the people whose lands were leased without consent?

2. IJAW LANDS, NOT ITSEKIRI LANDS: HISTORICAL AND LEGAL FACTS

Let’s go deeper. The communities mentioned by Newuwumi, Utonila, Tebu, Usoh, were not historically Itsekiri foundations. As early as the 1485 Portuguese voyage, records mention Gbaramatu and Ogbe-Ijoh as the primary indigenous riverine communities hosting the Europeans, long before the Olu throne even existed.

The Ijaw people, from Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh, Isaba, Diebiri, Egbema etc, are the first owners of Warri riverside and creeks, documented in:

The 1936 Intelligence Reports on Warri Division, which lists these Ijaw towns as independent entities and landlords over many of the lands now claimed by Itsekiris.

The 1973 case: Chief E.E. Sillo v. Attorney General of Bendel State, where the court ruled that no Itsekiri chief had the power to administer Ijaw territories under the guise of traditional council authority.

The Ayomike Letters (Itsekiri historian), which admitted that most of Itsekiri territory was acquired through settlements and not ancestral occupation.

3. THE FAKE CLAIM OF SOVEREIGNTY TRANSFERRED TO THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND

Newuwumi claims that the Itsekiris surrendered their sovereignty directly to the British Crown and not to Nigeria. What colonial fantasy is this?

The 1884 Treaty of Protection between Nana of Itsekiri and the British did not confer any territorial sovereignty. In fact, Nana Olomu was defeated and exiled in 1894, and his power structure dismantled. Where is the continuity of sovereignty in exile?

The Oil Rivers Protectorate (1885) and later Niger Coast Protectorate (1893) covered all Niger Delta tribes, including Ijaw territories. Sovereignty was not individual to any tribe but a general colonial annexation.

If the Itsekiris claim sovereignty lies with the British, why then have they contested in Nigerian courts, held public offices and participated in Nigerian elections? You cannot be both inside and outside the republic.

4. NO RULE OF LAW? YOU DEFIED THE SUPREME COURT!

Newuwumi cries about lack of rule of law. Yet:

The Itsekiris, through political manipulation, frustrated the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment in Timinimi v. INEC for two years!

They used media campaigns, presidential lobbying (via Daisy Danjuma), and royal letters to delay the final ward delineation meant to correct injustices.

They still parade a kingship institution that was fabricated in 1952 and imposed on other ethnic groups, a violation of natural justice.

5. ELITE BLAME GAME: BILLIONAIRES WITHOUT CONSCIENCE?

Omolubi blames Itsekiri billionaires for not protecting their lands. Perhaps they are too embarrassed to continue defending lies. Perhaps, unlike you, they know that the Ijaws have irrefutable ownership of the lands where oil is extracted.

Where are the Itsekiri oil fields?

Most oil blocs lie in Ijaw territories:

Egwa, Otunana, Jones Creek, Oporoza, Benikrukru, Okerenkoko, Azama, Egbema, all Ijaw towns hosting oil pipelines, FPSOs, and flowstations.

So why the crocodile tears?

6. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CANNOT BE MANIPULATED

No international court will uphold your fantasy of exclusive Itsekiri ownership over lands that belong to the Ijaw and Urhobo people. Let them come and read the 1948 Colonial Maps, the 1933 Intelligence Files, the 1999 Federal Government White Paper on the Warri Crisis and the 2001 Peace Committee Reports, which clearly show that the Itsekiris were settlers along riverbanks and not majority landowners.

7. FINAL WARNING: RELEASE THE WARD DELINEATION OR FACE FINAL RESISTANCE

This manipulative SOS is another attempt to distract INEC and buy more time to sabotage the final release of the new ward delineation, which reflects the true owners of Warri land.

We remind the nation and the world:

No final delineation result, no Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) in Warri. No more manipulation through royal letters or media lies. No more silence from the Ijaw nation.

CONCLUSION: ENOUGH OF THE TEARS OF A TYRANT

This is not a people under siege. This is a people watching their unjust privilege collapse and they are crying because justice is finally catching up.

The Ijaw people are not aggressors.

We are the ancestral owners.

We waited. We went to court. We won.

Now, we demand implementation.

The era of Itsekiri monopoly is over.

Let the records show:

Truth is not a victim. Truth is coming to power.

Signed:

Chief, Tiemopere Joshua

( President)

Chief, Ebikeme T. Godstime

(Secretary)

Cc:

INEC Chairman

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

United Nations Human Rights Commission

African Union Commission

United States State Department

British High Commission

ECOWAS Secretariat

Nigerian National Assembly

Nigerian Security Agencies

Global Press & Human Rights Observers