Ijaw and Urhobo leaders in Delta State have reluctantly accepted a presidential intervention regarding the contested Warri electoral boundaries.
Out of respect for President Bola Tinubu and to preserve local peace, the leaders said they agreed to a revised ward structure in the Warri South-West Local Government Area.
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Under the new arrangement, the number of Ijaw electoral wards drops from 14 to 11, while Itsekiri wards increase from four to nine.
The compromise aims to resolve a long-standing dispute over the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s fresh delineation report.
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The leaders, however, warned that they would resist any further alteration to the electoral boundaries approved by INEC and called on the commission to immediately commence implementation of the report ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The position was contained in a joint statement issued by the Indigenous Ijaws and Urhobo Leaders of Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State on Sunday following a meeting convened by President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on 11 June.
The latest development follows heightened tensions over INEC’s implementation of a Supreme Court judgement directing the commission to undertake a fresh delineation of wards and polling units in Warri Federal Constituency, comprising Warri North, Warri South and Warri South-West local government areas.
PREMIUM TIMES has reported the controversy surrounding the delineation exercise among the area’s three major ethnic nationalities of Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo, including the shutting of 13 oil and gas facilities by Ijaw and Urhobo groups, and allegations of political interference in the process by Mr Tinubu due to his marital ties with the Itsekiri.
Tinubu’s intervention
According to the statement, the president convened the emergency meeting after weeks of protests by Ijaw and Urhobo stakeholders and the occupation of some oil and gas facilities in the area.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the Warri and Urhobo leaders asked protesters to leave oil facilities after a meeting with the president in Abuja.
The leaders said Mr Tinubu, after consultations with Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and relevant government agencies, concluded that the major dispute centred on the composition of electoral wards in Warri South-West Local Government Area.
They said the president directed that the wards in the council should be adjusted to reflect a ratio of 11 wards for the Ijaw and nine wards for the Itsekiri.
The groups said they accepted the proposal despite their reservations.
“We accepted the intervention not because we are satisfied, but as a mark of respect for the office of the President and Commander-in-Chief and in the interest of peace,” they said.
The leaders noted that the arrangement represented a departure from INEC’s original field report.
According to them, the commission’s field assessment had recommended 14 wards for Ijaw communities and four wards for Itsekiri communities in Warri South-West because the Ijaw population accounts for about 75 per cent of the local government’s population, landmass and communities.
They said that political negotiations subsequently increased the number of wards allocated to Itsekiri communities from four to nine while reducing the Ijaw allocation from 14 to 11.
The statement also claimed that in Warri North Local Government Area, Itsekiri wards increased from eight in the field report to 10 following political interventions.
Breakdown of ward allocations
The leaders further provided figures showing how the final arrangement differs from INEC’s field recommendations.
According to them, the April 2025 field report recommended 27 wards for Ijaw communities across the three Warri local government areas, 21 wards for Itsekiri communities; and nine wards for Urhobo communities.
However, they said subsequent political interventions reduced Ijaw wards from 27 to 24 while increasing Itsekiri wards from 21 to 27.
The Urhobo allocation, they said, remained unchanged at nine wards.
The group described the outcome as unfair but said they accepted it to preserve peace and facilitate the completion of the delineation exercise.
Disagreement over power-sharing
The statement also revealed disagreements during follow-up discussions on a presidential directive for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on power-sharing among the three ethnic groups.
The leaders said representatives of the Ijaw and Urhobo proposed that political offices, including the two proposed federal constituencies, local government chairmanship positions and commissioner appointments, should rotate among the ethnic nationalities.
However, they said the Itsekiri delegation opposed extending the arrangement beyond the proposed Warri Federal Constituency II, arguing that issues relating to local government administration and appointments fall within the powers of the Delta State Government.
The Ijaw and Urhobo leaders accused the Itsekiri representatives of attempting to narrow the scope of the agreement.
Nevertheless, they said they agreed, on the advice of National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, to proceed with an MoU limited to areas where consensus could be reached in order not to delay the implementation of the delineation exercise.
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Warning to INEC
The groups insisted that the compromise reached through the President’s intervention should mark the end of alterations to the delineation report.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported that INEC has assured it is ready to implement the delineation after a harmonised position from Warri, Urhobo and Itsekiri stakeholders.
The groups warned that they would oppose any further changes to the composition of electoral wards, polling units, ward names or any other aspect of the report INEC presented on 20 May.
They called on the electoral commission to upload the delineation report to its portal and immediately begin voter registration and transfer exercises in the newly created wards and polling units.
“We would not accept any further alteration to the delineation report in any form whatsoever and under any circumstances,” the statement said.
The leaders added that any additional delay in implementing the report could erode trust in both the Federal Government and INEC and potentially trigger renewed tensions in the region.
The statement was signed by prominent Ijaw and Urhobo leaders including Godspower Gbenekama, an Ijaw leader and former spokesperson of the Gbaramatu Kingdom, Victor Okumagba, a prominent Urhobo leader and stakeholder in Warri politics, Samuel Ako, a former member of the Delta State House of Assembly and Ijaw political leader among five other leaders of the area.
The Warri delineation dispute has become one of the most politically sensitive issues in Delta State because of its implications for political representation and resource control among the Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo ethnic groups in Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region.
