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Ijaw Leaders to Meet, Consider Status Following Rivers State Emergency Rule
By Divine Perezide
The recent state of emergency declared in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu has reignited discussions among the Ijaw ethnic group summon an extraordinary expanded Executive Council Meeting in Izon-Ware, Yenagoa. The meeting is billed to hold on March 26, 2025.
Speaking to Vanguard, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), expressed the Ijaw people’s disappointment over the development, describing it as yet another blow to their community.
> “For Ijaw people, we are not too happy because we see this as another slap on us. But again, our position will be deliberated upon in a wider stakeholders’ meeting that will be convened later.”
According to him, this upcoming meeting will allow the Ijaw people to assess their participation in Nigeria’s political structure and explore possible paths toward self-determination.
Criticism of Tinubu’s Decision
Okaba argued that the state of emergency was premature and that President Tinubu missed an opportunity to heed public calls to address the actions of Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
> “We say it is hasty because the President has so much opportunity to leverage on the calls made by Nigerians from all quarters to call his minister, Nyesom Wike, to order.”
He further accused Wike of being the main instigator of the political crisis in Rivers State, citing statements in which the minister allegedly vowed to obstruct Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s administration unless his demands were met.
> “Secondly, while Wike himself has been the antagonist, he had boldly stated that he would make governance impossible for the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, in as much as he does not dance to his tune.
“In a recent statement credited to him, he (Wike) said the two conditions he must meet are: ‘Allow him to control all the LGAs in Rivers State, and that he (Fubara) should sign an agreement that he would not contest in 2027.’”
Okaba described Wike’s actions as an attempt to dominate state resources and turn Rivers State into his personal domain, warning that the people would ultimately suffer the consequences.
Call for Wike’s Removal
Okaba criticized President Tinubu for allowing Wike to remain in office while Governor Fubara was sacked, calling it an unfair and imbalanced decision.
> “I said it is lopsided—why will you leave Wike and sack Sim? The best thing is to remove everybody who played a role in this.
“Wike has to be sacked, and all the federal appointees from the state also have to be sacked because if you do not sack them, they will use their positions to perpetrate more crises and create more advantageous roles for themselves.”
He also argued that Wike had long been preparing for an emergency rule scenario, using political and judicial maneuvers to trigger chaos in Rivers State.
> “The other issue in this state of emergency is that we have seen right from the beginning that the declaration was one of the options Wike was looking at. He felt if the judiciary cannot remove him quickly; if the House of Assembly could not take him off; then the next option is to create a chaotic situation so that an emergency can be imposed on the state.”
Legal and Political Reactions
Miakpor Emiaso, a retired Delta State Customary Court President, called the emergency declaration an unfortunate but inevitable decision. However, he pointed out political bias in the President’s speech.
> “Apart from a few underlying misgivings that I have, it was inevitable. I mean that something had to give way. The way the gladiators in Rivers State were going, we could not continue like that, ridiculing the entire government apparatus and even embarrassing the judiciary as a fallout.
“My misgivings are one; the president’s language declaring the state of emergency has some subtle political bias. If you noticed, the president never mentioned the name of the speaker in the broadcast, nor did he refer to the well-known external influence on the House of Assembly, which is the origin of this crisis.”
He further noted that Wike’s influence over Rivers politics had not been addressed in the emergency rule decision.
> “As it is now, the state of emergency seems to have given thumbs up for vaunting godfatherism because you could say that now that the president has gone this way, he has not mentioned the external influence, especially Wike, who is the origin of all these. This shows that he has a bias that he needs to cure.
“If the President wants to be viewed as fair, he should move Wike from where he is now; otherwise, Wike will not keep quiet. He will try to reach the administrator to influence him in one way or another.”
Additionally, he criticized the six-month duration of the emergency rule, arguing that it was excessive, especially given that a retired military officer had been appointed to oversee the state.
> “Again, I say that the six-month state of emergency is excessive. It is too long, especially when you drafted a retired military officer to run the state as an administrator.”
IYC’s Reaction to the Emergency Rule
Dr. Chris Ekyor, former Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) President, expressed shock over the declaration, suggesting that it made the President appear as if he was acting on Wike’s directives.
> “The state of emergency came to me as a rude shock. It gives the impression that the president is answerable to his minister.”
He also questioned the legality of the 27 lawmakers’ defection and its implications under the Electoral Act.
> “I’m concerned about how the judges ruled that the 27 members are legitimate members of the House after defecting and breaching the law. The real problem in Nigeria is the court delivering fair justice.”
According to Ekyor, if the judiciary had acted impartially, the Rivers crisis would have been resolved long before escalating to this level.
He further condemned Wike’s alleged disrespect toward the Ijaw people.
> “Wike left the issues and threatened the entire Ijaw people over a mere disagreement with his candidate, who became governor of Rivers State. How does that concern the rest of the Ijaw people?
“He insulted Ijaw in Abuja at a media parley. Then he came to the heart of Ijaw land, shot at our women and children with tear gas, and further insulted us by asking, ‘How many dem dey?’”
Ekyor emphasized that the Ijaw people had deliberately avoided responding with violence to prevent further escalation, suggesting that Wike had manipulated events to push for emergency rule.
> “We did not respond with violence to allow peace to reign, knowing that his goal was to cause the president to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.”
Comparing Past Precedents
Ekyor compared Tinubu’s handling of the Rivers crisis to past instances where no state of emergency was declared despite serious conflicts.
> “President Tinubu rebelled against the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, between 2003 and 2007, as the governor of Lagos State. No state of emergency was declared on him. Under President Yar’Adua, Atlas Cove was blown in 2009; no state of emergency in Lagos?”
He also questioned the reasoning behind blaming Governor Fubara for recent security incidents, suggesting that the Joint Task Force (JTF) should have been able to prevent such occurrences.
> “How did the president conclude that Fubara is behind the explosions in Rivers State? Why does he not think it is those fighting him? Is there no Joint Task Force, JTF, securing the pipelines anymore? Why is the government spending heavily on pipeline security? Is there any breakdown of law and order in the state to warrant what the president did?”
With tensions rising, Ijaw leaders have vowed to continue discussions on their future in Nigeria and the possibility of self-determination.
By: Niger Delta Advocacy Force (NDAF)
DATE: 11th August 2025
RE: The Urgent Need to Release the Supreme Court, Ordered Warri Delineation Result
We write with a righteous fury born from centuries of betrayal, with the memories of our ancestors whispering in our ears and with the burden of a generation that refuses to be buried twice. Warri Federal Constituency has endured a political tragedy, a deliberate architecture of injustice built brick by brick from the colonial era until this very day. INEC’s continued refusal to release the Supreme Court, ordered delineation result is not a harmless delay, it is the reopening of old wounds, the replay of a script that has turned Warri into a graveyard of peace.
The story is painfully familiar. From the fraudulent colonial leases that stripped the Ijaw and Urhobo majorities of their land to the British-crafted ward structures that handed political dominance to a small minority, the outcome has always been the same, the truth is suffocated, the majority is silenced and a privileged few are inflated beyond their numbers. The Supreme Court, in Timinimi v. INEC (SC/CV/1033/2023), has cut through the lies. The verdict is not ambiguous. The time for INEC to obey is now.
Warri’s history is not abstract, it bleeds. The crises of 1997, 1999, and 2003 were not accidents, they were eruptions from decades of political fraud. The Daily Times, March 25, 1997, recorded the trigger: “The relocation of the local government headquarters to Ogbe-Ijoh sparked retaliatory violence that razed dozens of communities.” The peace we have now is not a natural peace, it is a fragile truce, balancing on a knife’s edge. Every day INEC delays is a day closer to shattering that balance.
Under Section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution, the orders of the Supreme Court are binding on all authorities. INEC’s failure to publish the delineation result two years after completing public hearings and mapping is nothing less than contempt of court. This delay is not administrative, it is political and it serves only those who benefit from keeping the fraudulent 6–4–0 ward formula alive, a structure where the Itsekiri minority, barely 25% of Warri population according to the 2006 National Population Census, holds political dominance over the Ijaw and Urhobo majorities.
History does not lie. The British Intelligence Report of 1932 (CO 554/122/6) makes it plain: “Gbaramatu and its surrounding creek communities are populated by Ijaw clans who have occupied the area before the arrival of Portuguese trade.” Yet, under British protection, fraudulent leases transferred the political heart of these territories into the hands of a favoured minority. This delineation exercise, the first in over a century with the potential to reflect reality is our one chance to reverse a hundred years of rigged history.
INEC must understand: in a place like Warri, transparency is not an option, it is a survival tool. To delay is to feed the rumour mill, to validate suspicions that the commission is protecting an ethnic agenda. O. Okohoja’s Who Controls Warri? (2016, Journal of African History) warned us: “Colonial administrative policies entrenched ethnic inequality, creating a volatile political space that has persisted into the postcolonial era.” Those who ignore such warnings repeat the cycle.
The demographic truth is undeniable. INEC’s own Field Assessment Report of 2022 states: “Ijaw and Urhobo communities account for over 70% of polling units in Warri South-West LGA.” These are the figures that must guide democracy not the invented arithmetic of political fraud. And while Nigeria chases global credibility, ECOWAS, the AU and the UN are watching. The world has intervened in Niger Delta crises before and it will again if the flames are rekindled.
Let us be clear, political representation has nothing to do with the palace titles that are being used as distractions. The Olu of Warri rebranded from “Olu of Itsekiri” in 1952 without the consent of the Ijaw or Urhobo is not a constitutional authority over our land or our votes. As the Colonial Record CO 554/120/5 bluntly notes: “The title ‘Olu of Warri’ is a recent invention and has caused unrest among the Ijo and Urhobo populations.” Democracy is not the property of a throne.
We are not blind to the forces at work. From the lobbying of Daisy Danjuma to the suspected influence of Remi Tinubu, we know the hands pulling the strings. INEC must decide, will it stand as a guardian of democracy or as a pawn in the game of elite manipulation? The choice will define its legacy.
This is more than a legal obligation, it is a moral reckoning. INEC is constitutionally empowered under Section 153(1)(f) and Paragraph 15 of the Third Schedule to act independently and in obedience to court orders. To continue delaying is to spit on the law and on the people. We say it plainly: release the Warri delineation result now.
The Ijaw and Urhobo people will not participate in Continuous Voter Registration or elections under an illegal ward structure. No delineation, no CVR. No delineation, no election. This is not a threat, it is the only moral response to a system that refuses to correct itself. The Supreme Court has spoken. The people have spoken. Now, INEC must speak through action.
The world is watching. And if Warri burns again, history will record that the spark was lit in the corridors of those who knew the truth but chose delay over justice.
Signed:
Dr. Tamuno Goodluck (Chairman)
Richard Ovie
(Defence)
Niger Delta Advocacy Force (NDAF)
Cc:
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
INEC Chairman
National Security Adviser
National Assembly
Nigerian Bar Association
ECOWAS
African Union
United Nations
Global Media
A Strategic Campaign to Maximize Government and Private Sector Partnership in Agricultural Mechanization
Submitted by:
Engr. John Perede Akpoyibo
CEO, J-Pere Nig. Ltd.
Global Impact Foundation Worldwide
Email: johndivine89@gmail.com
Phone: +2348156926975
Date: June 2025
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Nigeria is in urgent need of practical agricultural solutions that go beyond ceremonial launches and media fanfare. While the Federal Government recently flagged off the deployment of 2,000 tractors under the Renewed Hope Agricultural Revolution, the long-standing problem of underutilized resources and poor rural access persists.
This proposal by Engr. John Perede Akpoyibo, CEO of J-Pere Nig. Ltd., introduces “Operation Free Tractor Rental”—a result-oriented, impact-driven strategy to deploy tractors and bulldozers across the 36 states of Nigeria. The core objective is to enable rural farmers and landowners to access mechanized agricultural support through a digitally managed, government-sponsored, privately executed platform.
Key highlights include:
A partnership between the Federal Government and a private management firm.
Establishment of State Agricultural Mechanization Units (SAMU).
Deployment of 50 tractors and 1 bulldozer per state.
Creation of a transparent tractor/bulldozer request portal.
A 6-month conditional farming window for beneficiaries, with modest penalties for default.
This initiative aims to directly stimulate food production, rural job creation, land development, and farmer empowerment—ultimately ensuring that Nigeria’s agricultural transformation is not just announced, but fully implemented and felt across communities.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Agricultural mechanization is essential for transforming Nigeria’s food system. However, a long-standing pattern of cosmetic governance, characterized by public launches and zero field execution, has repeatedly failed to deliver.
“Operation Free Tractor Rental” seeks to shift that paradigm by placing control in the hands of both state-level agricultural departments and efficient private-sector operators, under federal sponsorship and monitoring.
2.0 BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM STATEMENT
Despite multiple government interventions in agriculture, rural farmers and landowners across Nigeria still lack access to:
Affordable land clearing services.
Reliable tractor rentals.
Modern farming infrastructure.
Tractors meant for public use are often diverted or abandoned. Farmers with land are discouraged by the prohibitive cost of starting mechanized farming, resulting in uncultivated lands and high food insecurity.
For example, in many Ijaw communities, families own over 100 plots of uncultivated land, overtaken by grass, trees, and weeds. These lands could feed thousands—if only land clearing and mechanized farming support were accessible.
3.0 PROPOSED SOLUTION: OPERATION FREE TRACTOR RENTAL
3.1 Objective
To decentralize access to tractors and bulldozers and ensure equitable service delivery through a public-private partnership model.
3.2 Strategic Steps
Step 1: Partnership Setup
The Federal Government allocates the 2,000 tractors and bulldozers to a private management firm (e.g., J-Pere Nig. Ltd.).
The private firm collaborates with State Commissioners for Agriculture to set up a State Agricultural Mechanization Unit (SAMU) in each of the 36 states.
Step 2: Equipment Allocation
Each state receives 50 tractors and 1 bulldozer, based on agricultural demand and geographic spread.
Step 3: Central Request Platform
Farmers and landowners apply via an online portal or designated state offices to:
Clear land with bulldozers.
Access tractors for ploughing and planting.
Step 4: Conditional Use
Beneficiaries must start cultivation within 6 months of land clearing or pay a modest penalty to recover operational costs.
Step 5: Monitoring and Evaluation
Tractors are GPS-monitored.
Monthly usage reports are published.
Independent field audits will ensure transparency and effectiveness.
4.0 EXPECTED OUTCOMES
Increased food production across all zones.
Thousands of hectares of unused land activated.
Job creation through tractor operations and farm labor.
Youth empowerment and new agribusiness opportunities.
Restoration of public trust in government agricultural programs.
5.0 FINANCIAL AND LOGISTICAL FRAMEWORK
Government Role: Asset funding, policy backing, and oversight.
Private Sector Role: Operational logistics, technology integration, and field management.
Farmer Contribution: Optional symbolic cost recovery fee if farming is delayed beyond 6 months.
This model can also attract donor agency support and development finance institutions (DFIs) such as AfDB, IFAD, and the World Bank, once proven successful at state level.
6.0 CASE STUDY: IJAW REGION PILOT SCHEME (Optional Addendum)
In the Ijaw region alone, thousands of hectares remain uncultivated due to land clearing costs. With the right tractor and bulldozer access:
Lands will be cleared in two weeks.
Farmers will begin planting.
Private funds can support irrigation, fencing, and farm housing.
This scalable success can be replicated nationwide.
7.0 CONCLUSION
If Nigeria is serious about agricultural transformation, we must adopt systems that reach the people, not just the headlines. “Operation Free Tractor Rental” is a ready-made, replicable blueprint that ensures tractors do not become political souvenirs, but tools of national productivity.
We urge:
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to adopt this model as a national strategy.
The Hon. Minister of Agriculture, to partner with J-Pere Nig. Ltd. and establish the State Agricultural Mechanization Units.
Private investors, to support the rollout of digital request platforms and logistics.
Communities and youth leaders, to organize and embrace this opportunity for agricultural rebirth.
Prepared and Submitted by:
Engr. John Perede Akpoyibo
CEO, J-Pere Nig. Ltd.
Contact:
+2348156926975
Johndivine89gmail.com.
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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