The Itsekiri National Youth Congress, INYC has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC of disenfranchising Itsekiri Nation ahead of the upcoming Delta State Local Government Election and the 2019 polls.
President of INYC, Comrade Esimaje Awani who made the accusation in a press statement released Friday August 18 in Warri, stated that the seeming refusal of INEC to create registration centres in Ogidigben and other Itsekiri communities to enable eligible Itsekiris register in the ongoing INEC voters’ registration exercise despite earlier calls by the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Ikenwoli and other prominent Itsekiris, raises doubt as to the commission’s sincerity of purpose.
According to Awani, the lingering crisis between Aladja people in Udu Local Government Area and their Ogbe-Ijoh counterparts in Warri South-West Local Government Area, which the Delta State Government hasn’t been able to resolve, has denied Itsekiris their legitimate right to participate in the ongoing INEC voters’ registration exercise.
The INYC President stressed that under normal circumstances, it’s difficult for Itsekiris in Ugborodo and other communities in Warri South-West to perform their civic rights in Ogbe-Ijoh due to the complexities of the terrain in the oil-rich local government, let alone the current crisis situation between Aladja and Ogbe-Ijoh, which has literally made Warri South-West Council staff to relocate to neighbouring Warri South Local Government Council to carry out their administrative duty.
Comrade Awani tasked the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu to as a matter of urgency create special registration centres for Itsekiris in Warri South-West and other crisis prone areas in Delta State in order to avoid possible litigation over disenfranchisement that will negatively affect subsequent elections.
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