Yesterday, protests over the proposed re-delineation of Ward by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) across multiple communities escalated yesterday in Warri, Delta State.
The protesters urged INEC to pull the brakes on its proposal in the interest of equity and justice.
The wave of protests by offended Itsekiri indigenes culminated in the shutdown of a major oil facility in Ugborodo, Warri South-West Local Government Area of the state.
The 28,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) oil installation, formerly operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company and now managed by Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings was shut down by the protesters.
Villagers, bearing placards with various inscriptions from the Ugborodo community, comprising men, women and youths, assembled at the entrance of the facility. They denounced an alleged “ethnic cleansing” agenda by the re-delineation proposal of the electoral umpire.
“This is an attempt to annihilate the Itsekiri people in their homeland,” a protester declared, accusing INEC of yielding to certain forces to short-change the ethnic group.
The protesters from Warri South, Warri South-West, and Warri North Local Government Areas alleged that the re-delineation proposal undermines their demographic and political realities.
Leaders of the Okere-Urhobo Kingdom in Warri South raised strong objections to the INEC proposal, claiming it grossly underrepresents their population and political weight.
“We have the population, we have the voters’ strength”, Matthew Poko Opuoru, a former member of the Delta State House of Assembly and Special Adviser to the Governor on the Environment, said.
“Okere-Urhobo Kingdom is the most populated area in Warri South. Our boundaries go beyond imagination. We deserve at least four wards,” Opuoru added.
He emphasized that their protest was not against other ethnic groups – Itsekiri, Ijaw or Agbarha-Warri – but rather a call for equity and proper recognition based on population data.
Echoing his sentiment, Chief Jude Onovughe Igerebou, a former leader of the Warri South Legislative Arm, said: “We reject the ward delineation done by INEC in Warri South. Our communities were not properly captured and there were too many abnormalities.”
