By THE Itsekiri nationality in Warri South, Warri North and Warri South West local government areas of Delta State have rolled out posers for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide answers to over the planned Warri Federal Constituency delimitation exercise.
At a press conference after a protest on Monday at the Government House Annexe, Warri, leaders of the protesters accused INEC of selecting court orders to obey as regards the contentious ward delineation in the three local government areas.
The Itsekiri accused INEC of setting up a committee saddled with the responsibility of executing the delineation exercise headed by Professor Rhoda Gumus, an Ijaw with a vested interest in the matter.
The Itsekiri protesters
Leaders of the protesters, legal practitioner, Fabious Demide Atie, former commissioner, Chief Omolubi Newuwumi, and President, Itsekiri National Youths Council (INYC), Godwin Utiemyin, said INEC appears to be in cahoots with other ethnic nationalities in the local government areas to oppress, subdue and suppress the Itsekiri.
Addressing journalists during the protest, Atie, Newuwumi and Utiemeyin insisted that if INEC must carry out the delineation, the body must first obey the court judgement that reverted the 12 wards in Warri South to 10 wards.
To ensure equity, fairness and justice, they also urged INEC to boot out the Ijaws from the delimitation committee since they have vested interest in the exercise.
At the press conference after the protest, Atie presented the posers to INEC as follows:
“This Press Conference is necessitated by the reality of the overwhelming bias created by the composition of the Management/Delimitation team or Committee set up by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to take charge of the proposed delimitation/review of Warri Federal Constituency; comprising Warri North, Warri South and Warri South-West Local Government Areas of Delta State of Nigeria.
“INEC has set in motion an extensive process of the engagement of stakeholders which ordinarily should be commendable and we make bold to say that we deeply appreciate it only as an opportunity provided by INEC for engagement with stakeholders on the subject matter. May we however regrettably ask the following question, in a preliminary, very swift and concise fashion:
“Did the Supreme Court order that the persons to head and drive this process must be of Ijaw ethnic nationality?
“Did the Supreme Court order that the right of fair-hearing as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the INEC manual regulating its practices should be set aside in the execution of the exercise?
“Did the Supreme Court set aside or declare as null and void the existing political structures?
“Can the exercise of today together with all that has been done since the commencement of this exercise stand legal scrutiny?
“RESOLUTION OF QUESTIONS:
In simple terms, the purpose of this conference is to resolve the above posed questions which we shall presently do.
“Did the Supreme Court order that the persons to head and drive this process must be of Ijaw ethnic nationality?
“Resolution:
The Supreme Court never made such an order.
“On its own and suspiciously in our view, for the purpose of today’s activity and all the arrangements leading thereto, INEC setup this Management/Delimitation Team or Committee to delineate Warri Federal Constituency headed by Professor Rhoda Gumus a person who is of Ijaw ethnic extraction, the same ethnic extraction with one of the three stakeholder groups in the Warri Federal Constituency. We seek to ask; how does this speak to the principles of impartiality and fair hearing as it affects that very important pillar of justice?
“Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the fourth estate of the realm, it may interest us all to know today that
“The Chairperson of this Committee is a person of Ijaw ethnic nationality, PROFESSOR RHODA GUMUS
“The Officer to superintend the ground operations of the exercise, the Head of Operations is Elemson Joseph Jumbo, again an Ijaw man.
“No single Itsekiri was invited for the very first set of stakeholders meetings for the purpose of consummating this exercise. Permit us to share with you, our protest against that exclusion. Before us are letters of protest written by our people Annexure “AR” and “AR1”. This was the first flag that the process was rigged ab initio and remains unrepentantly so even up till this moment. This could never have been the intendment of the Supreme Court; could it? We don’t think so!
“At the stakeholders’ meeting of the 5th day of April, 2023, there was a resolution that the court judgment and orders that were in favour of the Itsekiri people correcting the illegal 12 Ward structure in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State would be implemented alongside the Supreme Court judgment. May I refer to Annexure“AR2, a copy of the minutes of meeting at page 3- first complete sentence thereat highlighted.
“With the assistance of these interested persons of Ijaw ethnic nationality, a mercenary group of field workers has been recruited from INEC workers under the control and directives of these persons to do the biding of the Ijaws in the field and pad the figures which they already have prepared only waiting for this smokescreen exercise to release as official.
“Obviously, the Supreme Court’s judgment is one thing and the implementation of the judgment is another thing. The Implementation must as well follow the relevant constitutional principles of fair hearing. In this regard, we are worried about the following missteps by INEC:
“That INEC set up a Management/Delimitation Team or Committee to delineate Warri Federal Constituency headed by Professor Rhoda Gumus a person who is of Ijaw ethnic extraction, the same ethnic extraction with one of the 3 stakeholder groups in the Warri Federal Constituency.
“That the Officer to superintend the ground operations of the exercise, the Head of Operations is Elemson Joseph Jumbo, again an Ijaw man.
“INEC on multiple occasions excluded the Itsekiri people from the stakeholders meeting in respect of the said exercise which said injustice necessitated the Itsekiri people to lodge complaints in that regard.”
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