Open Letter to President Tinubu on need to respect Rule of Law in delineation of Warri Federal Constituency

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INDIGENOUS IJAW AND URHOBO PEOPLE OF WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY OF DELTA STATE

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June 5, 2026

His Excellency,

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR,

President, Commander-in-Chief of the

Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Your Excellency Sir,

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OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU ON THE NEED TO RESPECT THE RULE OF LAW AND DEMOCRACY IN THE WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY OF DELTA STATE

President, on the 12^th day of March, 2026, while addressing representatives of the Inter-Party Advisory Council at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, you said and we quote: ‘Democracy is about the rule of law and that the rule of law must prevail in any democracy’. It is in the context of your foregoing statement that, we write this open letter to express our dissatisfaction with the attack on the rule of law and democracy in the Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State arising from the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment in SC/413/2016: HON. GEORGE U. TIMINIMI 7 9 ORS V. INEC on fresh delineation of electoral wards and polling units.
It would be recalled that, on the 2^nd day of December, 2022, after 11 years of tedious legal journey through three layers of court in Nigeria by the Ijaw people of Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State, who have suffered decades of political oppression and suppression, the Supreme Court gave a final judgment where it ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as follows:

‘‘AN ORDER of this Honourable Court compelling the Defendant, its agents, servants, privies and assigns to conduct a fresh delineation of all that electoral wards/polling units for Warri South West, Warri North and Warri South Local Government Areas of Warri Federal Constituency in Delta State for the purpose of future elections’’. (underlying supplied for emphasis)

The Independent National Electoral Commission in reaction to the judgment met with stakeholders from the Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State on the 2^nd day of February, 2023 at its Headquarters in Asaba, Delta State where it expressed its commitment to implement the judgment as a law-abiding agency of government in line with section 287 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. The commitment was made by the then Hon. Resident Electoral Commissioner of Delta State, (Dr.) Monday Udoh Tom on behalf of the former Chairman, Prof. Mahumud Yakubu.
Subsequently, INEC had series of meetings with stakeholders which cumulated in the field work carried out from the 10th to 19th of July, 2024. The report of the field work containing the proposed fresh electoral wards/registration areas and polling units were presented to stakeholders of the Warri Federal Constituency on the 4th day of April, 2025 at Asaba, Delta State. INEC on that occasion called for comments, observations and inputs from stakeholders for the purpose of releasing its final report of the fresh electoral wards/registration areas and polling units for the conduct of the 2027 general elections and onward.
Further to the input by stakeholders, including agencies of government, INEC released the final report of the fresh delineation to stakeholders at Asaba on Wednesday, the 20^th day of May, 2026. INEC in its wisdom and to ensure deeper representation in government by the people of Warri Federal Constituency created two additional state constituencies in Warri North and Warri South West Local Government Areas. It further recommended the creation of new additional Warri Federal Constituency 11 to cover Warri North and Warri South West Local Government Areas, subject to compliance with constitutional requirements. INEC through its National Commissioner Alhaji Abdulrazaq Tukur Yusuf promised that the Commission would direct political parties to immediately conduct primaries to nominate candidates for the newly created state constituencies considering the timetable for the conduct of political party primaries.
The above decisions of INEC were greeted with wide jubilations by stakeholders all over the Warri Federal Constituency because they addressed to a very large extent the age-longed demands of the people.
However, the jubilations were cut-short when information got to us that, the Presidency has ordered INEC to stop further implementation of its final report on the Supreme Court ordered fresh delineation of the Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State because of issues raised by the Itsekiri ethnic nationality, which is one out of the three ethnic nationalities indigenous to the Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State. We strongly believe that, this decision arose from your matrimonial ties to the Itsekiri ethnic nationality.
PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE TO INEC IS AN ATTACK ON THE RULE OF LAW AND DEMOCRACY IN THE WARRI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY OF DELTA STATE AND NIGERIA
President, we state without hesitation that, your directive to INEC to stop further implementation of the Supreme Court ordered delineation of the Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State is a direct attack and desecration of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) which you swore to defend and uphold. On the 29^th day of May, 2023, when you took your oath of office as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, you among other things made a vow before God and the Nigerian people as follows:

‘…That as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I will discharge my duties to the best of my ability, faithfully and in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the laws,… that I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions; that I will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…, that in all circumstances, I will do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, ill-will…’

We the Indigenous Ijaw and Urhobo people of Warri make bold to state that, your actions in relation to the implementation of the Supreme Court ordered delineation of the Warri Federal constituency is a complete violation of your oath of office and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
We state that your directive to INEC undermines the sanctity of national institutions such as the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This is dangerous to the survival of our democracy and the rule of law. The rule of law in a democratic system of government requires that the finality of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and the independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission should be respected by all persons and organs of government in the overall interest of Nigeria’s democracy, including your office as President and Commander-in-Chief. It is a requirement of the 1999 Constitution, as amended that, the judgment of the Supreme Court is final and must be obeyed and enforced by all persons and authorities in Nigeria. Section 287 (1) of the Constitution concretised this mandatory duty in the following words:

‘The decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the supreme court.’ (underlying supplied for emphasis)

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The constitutional duty of all agencies of government including your office in the context of the fresh delineation of electoral wards and polling units as ordered by the Supreme Court in the Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State is to ensure the enforcement of the order of the Supreme Court to its logical conclusion. To do otherwise, as you did with your directive to INEC amounts to violent attack on the rule of law which is the bedrock upon which our constitutional democracy stands as you rightly stated in your meeting with the Inter-Party Advisory Committee on the 12^th of March, 2026.
Furthermore, it is important to point out to Mr. President, the need to respect the constitutional independence of INEC in the performance of its constitutional and statutory functions. For the purpose of emphasis, section 160(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended provides for the independence of INEC as follows:

…provided that in the case of the Independent National Electoral commission, its powers to make its own rules or otherwise regulate its own procedure shall not be subject to the approval or control of the President’’ (underlying supplied for emphasis).

By the foregoing provision, INEC is supposed to be independent in the performance of its functions and the constitutional independence enjoys by INEC must be respected by all agencies of state in the interest of our nation’s democracy. It is a dangerous precedent for Mr. President to stop INEC in the performance of its statutory responsibility to implement its delineation report in line with the judgment of the Supreme Court because of affiliation to an ethnic group that is interested in the final report. In the same vein, it amounts to disrespect to the Supreme Court of Nigeria for its orders to be undermined and enforcement truncated. May, the day not come when orders of the apex court would be disregarded with impunity. That would portend a direct attack on the rule of law and direct invitation to anarchy.
Furthermore, Mr. President, you swore and made a vow to Nigerians to do right to all manner of people without favour, affection or ill-will. We state with all sense of humility that, your interference in the affairs of INEC in order for the report of the Supreme Court ordered fresh delineation to be favourable to the Itsekiri ethnic nationality and at the expense of the Ijaws and Urhobos of Warri because of your matrimonial relationship with Itsekiri is a violation of your oath of office and the Constitution of Nigeria. You ought to with due respect treat everybody equally and without favour in accordance with law. INEC has submitted its final report and its independence should be respected in the implementation of the final report.
OUR PRAYERS
Based on the foregoing, we the Indigenous Ijaw and Urhobo people of Warri wish to humbly request as follows:
The constitutional independence of INEC in the performance of its duties should be respected by all agencies and organs of the Federal Government in the interest of the rule of law and democracy.
The Presidency should stay clear from interfering in INEC’s statutory responsibility to implement the fresh delineation of electoral wards and polling units in the Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State as ordered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the conduct of the 2027 elections.