Delineation Brouhaha: Any INEC Committee with Bila, Ken, Prof. Gumus as members, will not be accepted – Itsekiris tell Ribadu

Itsekiri Nation, under the auspices of Iwere Indigenous Peoples Movement, IIPM, on Monday July 21, addressed the media in Warri, Warri South Local Government Area and staged peaceful protests in Ugborodo as well as Benin River axis in Warri South-West and Warri North Local Government Areas, respectively, saying any review committee that INEC would setup on the controversial ward/unit delineation proposal in Warri Federal Constituency, that would include Baba Bila, Commissioner Ken and Professor Rhoda Gumus as members, will not be accepted.

Addressing newsmen in Warri on behalf of Iwere Indigenous Peoples Movement, IIPM, the immediate past Secretary to Warri North Local Government, Mr. Samuel Meyiwa Khalil, SMK, reiterated Itsekiri Nation’s rejection of INEC’s proposed ward/unit delineation in Warri South, Warri South-West and Warri North Local Government Areas.

He emphasized: “Determined and resolute in our collective resolve to seek for the protection of our fundamental rights to be treated equally like other Nigerians under the extant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria without any form of discrimination whatsoever, we the Itsekiri people whose homeland is in Warri Federal Constituency have resolved to grant this press briefing, in furtherance of the expression of our position on the re-delineation exercise of the constituency.

“We reject the proposal recommended by INEC in Warri South, Warri North, and Warri South-West as a way forward in the commission’s delineation exercise in the Warri Federal Constituency. We also reject the purported and biased committee report by Baba Bila, Commissioner Ken, and Professor Rhoda Gumus.

Some of the Itsekiri protesters at Ugborodo, Warri South-West LGA

“We further appeal to the office of the NSA to direct the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to set up a new and independent committee constituted of members different from the individuals mentioned above to properly look into the field report that the field officers of INEC did for fairness, justice and equity.

“The individuals mentioned above, cannot be judges in their own cause as such would be against the age-long principle of fair hearing premised on the latin maxim, "Nemo judix in casuasua".

“We, the Itsekiri people of the three Warri Local Government Council Areas that made up the Warri Federal Constituency, of Delta State, are vehemently against the report of the proposed ward delineation by INEC presently in circulation.

“It should therefore be confined to the dustbin of history, where such fraudulent report that has the potential of leading to the complete breakdown of law and order are usually thrown into.

“We see this as an affront, and an injustice to the Itsekiri people, because of the numerous irregularities in the report by INEC. We observed with utmost consternation that the Ijaw areas in Warri North and Warri South-West, which originally have four (4) wards each have been brazenly increased to fourteen (14) wards and eight (10) wards respectively in their purported report, while the entire Itsekiri areas in the same Local Government Areas mentioned above with six (6) wards each originally before the fraudulent ward delineation exercise, was unconscionably reduced to five (5) wards in Warri South-West and a paltry eight (8) wards in Warri North, without recourse to existing official data either from INEC or other relevant agencies of government.

“All these were done in order to completely exterminate the Itsekiri people politically and economically from their ancestral homeland and to deny them their clear majority status in Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State, their aboriginal ancestral homeland. We will resist this glaring injustice at all cost.

The press briefing scene at NPA Trailer Park, Warri

“In Warri South, the Ijaw that have been barred by the court of competent jurisdiction from contesting ownership of land therein and who have no single community in Warri South were given three (3) wards where they had none before now, while the Urhobo which had only two (2) legally recognized wards were now given nine (9) wards while the Itsekiri that has eight (8) recognized wards of the ten (10) legal wards in the Local Government Area were made to retain eight (8).

“While we appreciate the efforts of the NSA so far to ensure that justice and fairness prevail, we wish to state categorically without any form of ambiguity that any review that does not address the manifest injustice and disproportionate distribution of wards as seen in the proposal given to us by INEC, will not be accepted. We can no longer accept such grave miscarriage and travesty of justice to be foisted on us in our homeland.

“If INEC wilfully fails or intentionally neglects to comply with the true picture of the field work carried out during the delineation exercise in the Itsekiri axis then, we would be left with no other option than to completely shut down the operations of all IOCs and indigenous oil and gas companies operating in our domain.

“We are boldly reiterating that we have no option, but to shut down completely the operations of all IOCs in our areas if INEC fails to comply with the true picture of what is on the ground in respect of the field work done by them and us.

“We wish to conclude that Dr. Baba Bila and his co-travellers who participated in this fraudulent exercise cannot placate us with the Greek gifts of additional polling units or wards, because our collective destiny and God given rights cannot be shortchanged, nor mortgaged under any subterfuge whatsoever.

“Our demand is a total review of the proposed delineation of electoral wards in Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State to reflect the actual report of the field work done by the field officers. The facts of which are available and even known to INEC. Truth and justice must be allowed to prevail.”

An Itsekiri Rights’ proponent and former lawmaker in Warri South Local Government Area, Hon. Romeo Ogedegbe, who also spoke to newsmen, stated: “It is now visible to the blind and audible to the deaf, that we the Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality have come out on several occasions to make boldly and clearly, to Nigeria and to the world at large that we have consulted and consolidated in form of reaching out to relevant agencies, every office, every parastatals to explain whatever we have to explain, in regards to our heritage, which is the Warri Federal Constituency, the homeland of the Warri that is being threatened by the Ijaws and the Urhobos.

“We have proofs to show that we are the original owners of Warri Kingdom, we birth Warri Federal Constituency. We are not going to end in consulting and consolidating, we will take it further, we will confront anything that has to do with our patrimony, we will come out in full, we will confront with anything we have, we will close down every IOCs (International Oil And Gas Companies).

“We will let them know that it is only academics that 30percent does not mean anything, in contribution, 30 percent is everything. We contribute 30 percent to what gives this Nation its resources and we contribute 70 percent in Delta State, we will shut it down.

“The whole world will know that Itsekiri owns this land and we will defend it with everything we have.”

Vocal Itsekiri female agitator, Comr. Queeneth Pessu, in an interview, asserted: “We dey tell government say the INEC people dem be thief, them won take our place because of money, but them nor go fit take am, our land na our land, we get all papers.

“The one wey Itsekiri Land Trustee take give them naim them show, them be tenant to us. Make Government give us our land, if not we go shutdown all our flow stations.

“Na we get the highest quantum, we get 29 percent of quantum in Delta State, watin be their quantum?”

In the same vein, some Itsekiris gathered Monday morning July 21 at Ugborodo, Warri South-West Local Government Area, protesting, carrying banners with inscriptions, such as “INEC we say NO to the injustice given to Itsekiri people, please give us back our wards”, “INEC proposal rest in peace”, “INEC ward fraud is rejected by Itsekiri”, “no peace for injustice”, “our identity is not negotiable”, “we will defend our land by any legal means”, “on justice victory and legitimacy, Itsekiri are the indigenous owners”, “stop ethnic cleansing in Warri”, “we vehemently reject with everything we have the kangaroo ward delineation by INEC”, “dollar nor dey create ward” and “Itsekiri are the majority in Warri Federal Constituency”

As at the time of this report, it was gathered that the protest would have gone on simultaneously in the Benin River axis of Warri North Local Government Area.

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