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