Itsekiri Group Rejects INEC’s New Ward and Polling Unit Plan

Ugbarajo Itsekiri Youths (UIY) has criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for what it says is a breach of its own guidelines in the second proposal to create new constituencies, wards, and polling units in the Warri Federal Constituency.

The youths argue that INEC violated its own rules, which require a minimum of 750 registered voters for a new polling unit, at least 50 polling units in a ward before a new ward can be created, a distance of 500 metres between wards in urban areas and 1,000 metres in riverine areas, and the use of population figures in determining voter registration.

According to the UIY leadership, it is impossible for INEC to create additional wards for the Ijaw in Warri South‑West Local Government Area because the Ijaw areas have allegedly failed to meet the stated guidelines.

The UIY says that Itsekiri communities such as Ubeji, Egbokodo, Aja‑Etan, Ifiekporo, Omadino, Obodo, Orugbo, Ugbuwangue, Ekurede Itsekiri, and Ode‑Itsekiri in Warri South Local Government Area should have independent wards because they meet INEC’s requirements. The group claims that INEC’s deliberate failure to create more wards for these communities is absurd and fraudulent, and that five additional wards could be created from these communities.

Itsekiri communities such as Aja‑Ometan, Tisun, Kolokolo, and Ughotosan in Warri North Local Government Area are described as too large to be clustered into one ward. The UIY states that these communities qualify for their own independent wards, yet INEC has refused to do so.

Speaking to reporters in Warri, Delta State, UIY President Joseph Okotie, represented by Legal Adviser Onesiosan Ogholaja, said that INEC’s fresh proposals on the delineation exercise in the Warri Federal Constituency, presented to stakeholders in Asaba on Wednesday, May 20, “are a continuation of the illegalities and fraudulent practices that the Itsekiri Nation has complained about.”

“The Itsekiri Nation and stakeholders from other ethnic groups challenged the delineation reports. Despite submitting petitions, historical records, maps, treaties, and court judgments, INEC proceeded without resolving the concerns raised by Itsekiri stakeholders regarding the previous proposal. Instead, INEC issued a fresh proposal that still contains the fraud and irregularities earlier complained about,” Okotie said.

“We vehemently state that the Itsekiri Nation washes its hands of the recycled anomalies that INEC has repackaged as a fresh proposal. We strongly reject INEC’s grotesque misrepresentation, which it terms a fresh proposal, because it is heavily tainted by irregularities, fraudulent practices, and glaring corruption,” the spokesperson added.

In 2003, the Federal High Court, in Suit No. FHC/B/109/97 between Dr Joseph Otumara & 8 Ors vs INEC, ordered the use of 10 wards in Warri South Local Government Area and declared the 12‑ward structure illegal.

Instead of obeying that judgment, INEC in 2011 allegedly collaborated with the Ijaw to secretly institute an action against itself over the same subject matter, which the court had already decided in favour of the Itsekiri under the 10‑ward structure.

INEC’s creation of the Ijaw wards of Bolouma, Ogbe‑Ijoh Urban, and Ewein in Warri South Local Government Area is described as illegal and contemptuous. There are no communities known as Bolouma, Ogbe‑Ijoh Urban, and Ewein in Warri South Local Government Area. The court, in Suit No. W/148/56 between Chief Izoukumo Olioki & 5 Ors (for themselves and on behalf of the Ogbe‑Ijoh people) vs Itsekiri Communal Land Trustees and Chief Sam Warri Esi (for himself and on behalf of the Agbassa and Igbudu people), and in several other cases, held that the Ijaw have no legal rights in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State. What legal foundation did INEC rely on to create Bolouma and Ewein polling units in Warri South?

“Okere Community is now captured as an Urhobo community, while GRA, Pessu, and Old Port are now classified as Ijaw wards. Mission Road, Robert Road, Bowen, and parts of Alder’s Town have now been converted to Agbassa wards. Kantu is an Itsekiri community in Warri South‑West, yet it was wrongly converted to an Ijaw community. Itsekiri communities such as Odion were renamed Esi, while Okereghigho was renamed Okerenkoko.”

The post Itsekiri group rejects INEC’s fresh ward, polling unit proposal appeared first on Vanguard News.