Yesterday, hundreds of Ijaw elders and youths embarked on a solidarity protest at the Independent National Electoral Commission headquarters in Abuja over the recent ward delineation exercise in the three local Government Areas making up the Warri Federal Constituency.
The protesting Ijaws, who came from the Gbaramatu, Egbema, Diebiri, and Isaba communities, said that they were in Abuja to commend INEC for the recent ward delineation exercise in the Warri Federal Constituency, which they described as diligent.
The protesters who wielded various placards commending the electoral umpire for the ward delineation exercise said that the commission had discharged its duties effectively before stakeholders and the public.
Spokesman of the Ijaw kingdoms, Chief David Reje, said that INEC has taken the right step, as a body committed to the rule of law, to implement the Supreme Court’s verdict ordering the exercise.
Chief Reje dismissed the claims in some quarters that INEC did not consult stakeholders before kickstarting the ward delineation exercise.
He stressed that INEC started a comprehensive stakeholder engagement process with the three ethnic nationals making up the constituency: Ijaw, Urhobo, and Itsekiri.
He recalled that the Commission engaged the ethnic nationalities through their leaders and traditional rulers in Warri and Asaba and followed up with community visits to get everybody’s support.
He said, “We have come here to appreciate you, to thank you for the good work you have done since 2022 after the Supreme Court judgment. You never jettisoned the judgment.
“You committed yourself to the rule of law and the principles of good governance and took it upon yourself to engage all the stakeholders of the nationalities of the Ijaws, the Itsekiris, and the Urhobos.
“You formed a committee, you went down, you were engaging them differently, and they were heavily represented by their leaders and their traditional rulers and at the end of it, you made time to go to the communities of all the nationalities of the Itsekiri, the Ijaws, and the Urhobos.
„And by your fieldwork, you have been able to come out with a proposed document somehow, a proposed report. And we discovered that some people are trying to become funny as if they were not involved in the whole process. We were all involved in the entire process: Warri, Asaba, and everything. And everybody has given their assent to the process to be carried out.
„But I was so surprised by protests from some corners, particularly from our Itsekiri brothers, as if they were taking it on their back. Gone are the days when wards were allocated. Today, wards are given diligently through a diligent ward delineation process, which is first of all carried out. So we have come to appreciate you and let the public know you never did any job in the classroom, bedroom, or private room. It was a public work, a public assignment, demonstrated by mostly going through the creeks or the nooks and crannies of the three areas.
„Today, we have left our Egypt of political slavery to our promised land of political emancipation and political identity and dignity. Nobody will dictate a candidate for us or councillors. Today, we have gotten our freedom. We have been set to make the world know that the people they termed the minority are the true majority, which has been confirmed and revealed to the whole world. The majority has come on board. The majority has come on the stream.
The majority has come for their political emancipation and political sovereignty. Our own is not to dominate anybody. Our own is not to set somebody aside. Let‘s all cooperate as Nigerians, as brothers and sisters in a federal constituency, to ensure that we build an environment that is politically endowed with the beauty of political democracy and freedom“.
Top INEC officials, including two National Commissioners, Processor Abdullahi Zuru and Malam Mohammed Haruna, received the protesters.
Prof Zuru, who spoke, thanked them for appreciating the commission‘s efforts.
He stressed that the commission would always ensure that the right thing is done.
He said, „We want to thank you most sincerely for coming here as one of the major stakeholders in this discussion and for appreciating what the Commission has done so far.
“We want to assure you that as a commission, we are dedicated to doing what is right as far as democracy in Nigeria is concerned. And God willing, we will ensure that democracy at the end of the day is what decides everything that we do“.
Similarly, a former President of the Gbaramatu Youths Council, Christopher Wuruyai, said that the delineation exercise reflected the population of the ethnic nationalities making up the constituency.
He said, “The Ijaws of Warri Federal Constituency had suffered injustice for 29 years when wards were unilaterally allocated by the whims and caprices of specific individuals who could allocate wards to themselves.
“But today, INEC has done a diligent job. This job was done following the decision of the Ijaws to take INEC to court. The matter went to the Appeal Court, and they followed up diligently until it reached the Supreme Court. A judgment was given that the INEC should return and make a proper ward delineation.
“We were all part and parcel of this process and are saying that we will continue to ensure that INEC’s stand on this issue prevails.”
INEC formally presented a revised political structure that reflects the ethnic composition of the Warri federal constituency to representatives of the three ethnic groups at Asaba on April 5.
According to the commission, Warri North LGA now comprises 18 wards, with the Ijaw people holding 10 wards and the Itsekiri holding 8.
Warri South-West LGA consists of 19 wards, with the Ijaw dominating 14 wards and the Itsekiri holding 5.
Warri South LGA features 20 wards distributed among the three major ethnic groups: Ijaw (3), Itsekiri (8), and Urhobo (9).
The Delta State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Sir Etekamba Udo Umoren, led the presentation of the delineation report at a stakeholders’ meeting in Asaba.
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