INEC delineation of WARDs in Itsekiriland is a call for chaos, writes Tinubu, INEC

By Ologeh Joseph Chibu

The Oodua Nationalist Coalition, (ONAC) has despatched protest letters to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Chairman, Independent Electoral Commission, (INEC) asking them to stop the illicit delineation or wards in Itsekiriland.

In a letter sent to the President, the National Security Adviser, NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, the leading Pan Yoruba group, O’odua Nationalist Coalition said the development may spur another round of crisis in Delta State.

ONAC said it has watched with dismay the very selective but systematic grand conspiracy to technically alienate, nay, obliterate the Itsekiri people from their homeland in order for other ethnic Nationalities particularly, the ijaws to live their homelands of Patani, Burutu and Bomadi of Delta state to take over the political economy of the Itsekiri Homeland when this conspiracy comes to fruition.

In a statement on Friday, the
Pan Yoruba group said the problem started first with the massive destruction of properties and lives of Itsekiri people in their various communities in their Homeland and it was called the Warri crisis.

“This was closely followed by the arbitrary relocation of the headquarters of Warri South-West from Ogidigben, an Itsekiri community to Ogbe-Ijoh, an ijaw community.”

The group said as if this was not enough, by 1999 when democracy finally crystallized in Nigeria, the Itsekiri Homeland regarded now as the defunct Warri local government Area from where the current three Warri local government areas viz: the Warri South Local Government Area, Warri North Local Government Area, and Warri South West Local Government Area of the now Warri Federal Constituency ended up with ten wards each with the Itsekiris in Warri North and Warri South West having six wards each while the ijaws were given 4 wards each.

It noted that in Warri South Local Government Area, the Itsekiri had 8 and half wards while the Urhobos had one and half.

How INEC concorted this ward ratios from the ijaw 2; Urhobos 1 and Itsekiris 10 wards from the defunct Warri Local Government Area to the new ratio beats the imagination of the best demographers and mathematicians of the world.
As if this was not enough, the two Federal Constituencies of Warri and Warri North Federal Constituencies were reduced to one and the other one moved to the ijaws homeland of Bomadi and Patani.

No sooner than this was successfully achieved by INEC, INEC again created arbitrarily twelve wards from the original ten wards structure of Warri South Local Government Area. Although, this was immediately challenged by the Itsekiris and normalcy restored by court of competent jurisdiction directing INEC to go back to the ten wards, till date, INEC deliberately refused to obey the court judgement.

The most recent arbitrariness was the passage of a bill by the national assembly to recognize the location where the Maritime University is sited as Okerenkoko an ijaw illegal name as against Okerenghigho, an Itsekiri name pronounced by the supreme Court to be so recognized.

INEC recently murdered sleep in Delta state when they disregarded all the records in their archives and pronouncements from competent courts of jurisdiction in this country by going ahead to make public a proposal for new delineation of wards even against pending court cases and procedures where they completely sold out the Itsekiris homeland to the ijaws.

NNPC have also not helped matters when they through their award of surveillance and security contract and against the Petroleum Industrial Act gave all Itsekiri Homeland to Tantita Security Nig Ltd -a company owned by sworn enemies of the Itsekiris.

We warn against Itsekiri persecution

ONAC calls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to move swiftly to stem a major crisis that may engulf Delta State and the Niger Delta.

(ONAC) warned that Delta State may witness a repeat of armed conflict between Ijaw and Itsekiri unless the federal authorities urgently address the lingering cases of injustice against the indigenous Itsekiri in Warri Federal Constituency. The group warned that the crisis has the potential of drawing the entire Yoruba Nation into a major conflict in Delta State making the oil producing State an avoidable theatre of renewed hostilities.

According to ONAC, the two major issues if not resolved stand the risk of plunging Nigeria into another circle of violence which can and should beavoided. The group warned that any crisis at this moment in the Niger Delta has the potential of destabilising the entire country.

ONAC said the first is the creation of new wards in Itsekiri land designed to scuttle the Itsekiri people voting strength and make them politically impotent in their own ancestral land; the second is the award of pipeline protection on Itsekiri land to their sworn enemies. The group said these two issues can spark unprecedented violence at any time unless they are urgently addressed by the Presidency and the Office of the National Security Adviser, (NSA).
‘The Itsekiri are being treated as underdogs in their own motherland. They are being intimidated, subdued and threatened by people who claim they have imported enough illicit weapons to take on Nigeria, people whose only weapon is the use of violence and bribery of institutions to the extent that such institutions disrespect and abuse various pronouncements of the Supreme Court on land matters in Warri Kingdom,’ ONAC said.

The group said the Yoruba Nation would not stand by and watch the insult and humiliation to continue warning that it would be a mistake for Itsekiri foes to assume they can continue to intimidate and short change the ethnic group without consequences.

ONAC, a coalition of 25 Pan Yoruba groups established in 2002 alleged that the enemies of Itsekiri ethnic group have been amassing dangerous weapons under the false guise of pipeline protection to the detriment of peaceful co-existence in Delta State.

The coalition said Itsekiri have been pushed beyond reasonable limit of patience in the face of aggravated assault and usurpation of their ancestral land by the bigger ethnic groups who exploit their higher population to consistently humiliate and undermine the Itsekiri in Delta State.

‘We draw the attention of the President and the National Security Adviser to what is now an issue of emergency National security issue. We note the forceful delineation of WARDs in Warri Federal Constituency by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) as a calculated attempt to reduce the voting strength of Itsekiri people and create unprecedented political exclusion that will weaken their political history,’ ONAC said in the statement signed by 25 members of the coalition released on Thursday.

Those who signed the statement are Chief Kunle Anjorin, Hakeem Akinwale, Chief Sanusi Adeuya among many others.

The group said the award of oil pipeline protection belonging to the Itsekiti to Ijaw has created a situation whereby armed men currently invade and occupy Itsekitiland under the pretence of protecting pipelines.

‘There is no ethnic group in the Niger Delta that will accept the injustice being unleashed on Itsekitipeople, the humiliation and the arrogant usurpation of their land by people who boast openly that they have the capacity to ruin Nigeria with the arms in their possession. When the time to defend Itsekiri land comes, the  violent groups should be ready to face the entire Pan Yoruba groups who are alarmed and troubled by the current state of affairs in Delta State, ’ the group stated.