‘Call Your Commissioners to Order’ – Ogbe-Ijoh Leaders in Delta Tell President Tinubu, INEC Boss

Oil Producing Communities of Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom, Delta State, have urged President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to ‘call to order’ INEC’s three National Commissioners coordinating the fresh delineation of Warri Federal Constituency following the alleged financial scandal rocking rhe exercise.

They alleged that the three unnamed commissioner were responsible for the lopsided allocation of wards against Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom that’s currently threatening rhe relative peace in Warri South West LGA.

Speaking at a press conference held at Tekedor/Kusimi also known as Egwa 11 community, Warri South West LGA, the Ogbe-Ijoh leaders said that the INEC officials should be held responsible for any disruption to oil and gas activities in Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom, which is imminent, according to them, if the injustice against them are not addressed.

They alleged that the officials had hijacked the fresh delineation of Warri Federal Constituency and have made rubbish the Supreme Court ordered fresh delineation exercise.

They said that the commissioners were responsible for INEC allocation of only two wards out of nineteen in Warri South West LGA to Ogbe-Ijoh despite having 40% of the population/landmass of Warri South West LGA based on the NPC records, accusing the “cabal” of INEC commissioners of hijacking the process, disregarding official data and reports, and deliberately misallocating electoral wards in favour of certain political or economic interests.

In a press statement reads at Egwa 11 community and signed by Deacon Clement Tekedor, Chief Samson Oyimi, Emmanuel Kusimi and Hon. Johnbull Aniyanghan, the leaders said; “There is a group of commissioners who have taken control of the delineation process. They are deliberately ignoring NPC population data and actual field reports, instead relying on manipulated figures to allocate wards”.

They called for the removal of the implicated commissioners, stating, “The chairman of INEC must intervene and remove those hijacking the process, ensuring that the delineation reflects accurate data and complies with legal standards.”

The statement further reads; “You would recall that, on the 7th of July, 2025, which was few days ago, we addressed a press conference, where we called on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address the gross injustice in the allocation of only two (2) Registration Areas/Electoral Wards out of nineteen (19) Registrations areas/Electoral Wards to Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom in the proposed allocation of Registration Areas/Electoral Wards in Warri South West LGA, failing which we shall shut down oil installations in our communities.

“However, despite the call by the Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom Oil Producing Communities for the injustice against Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area to be addressed, three National Commissioners of INEC who have hijacked and coordinating the delineation process are determined at frustrating all efforts to address the injustice against Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom.

“These National Commissioners instead of relying on the publicly available NPC data of population, settlements and the actual field work carried out by INEC officials in July, 2024, are insisting on allocating Registration Areas/Electoral Wards indiscriminately without reference to the NPC data and the actual INEC field report.

“It was these same National Commissioners who did not come to the field and did not know anything about the population and size of any of the Kingdoms/Ethnic Groups in Warri South West Local Government Area, that carried out the lopsided allocation of Registration Areas/Electoral Wards as contained in the proposal released on April 4, 2025 where Kingdoms/Ethnic Groups with less population than Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom were allocated 9 (nine) and five (5) Registration Areas/Electoral Wards respectively.

“Having done great injustice in allocating two out of nineteen Registration Areas/Electoral Wards to Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom with 40% of the population/landmass of Warri South West LGA based on the NPC records and the actual field report carried out by the INEC officers, the cabal of National Commissioners in INEC, despite our outcry are determined to maintain the injustice against Ogbe-Ijoh.

“They have so far frustrated and rejected all proposals from those with actual knowledge of the population size and the actual field work to address the lopsided allocation of Registration Areas/Electoral Wards.

The leaders disclosed that they have it on good records that the commissioners have employed intimidation tactics against INEC staff who oppose their plans, including threats of sack, punitive postings, and even manipulating reports to favor their preferred boundaries.

“These National Commissioners have used all sorts of intimidatory tactics against INEC workers with knowledge of the actual population records and field work, including threat of sack, punitive posting outside the INEC National Headquarters, bullying and doctoring of the actual field work and reports, addition of hundreds of fictitious communities in some parts of the Warri South West LGA, all in a bid to frustrate and undermine Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom.

“The desperation by these National Commissioners of INEC to manipulate the fresh delineation process must stop.
The Supreme Court ordered for fresh delineation in Warri Federal Constituency because, the former delineation was done without regard to the actual population and the reality on ground.

“It is sad to note that, what the INEC National Commissioners are currently doing in the ongoing Supreme Court ordered fresh delineation against the Ogbe-Ijoh people in Warri South West LGA is worse than what existed before the judgment.

“It is surprising to the Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom oil Producing Communities that public officers who are supposed to be beacon of accountability are now doing the bidding of interested persons to undermine the integrity of INEC and the ongoing fresh delineation. Consequently, we demand as follows:

“We again call on the Chairman of INEC to save the Ogbe-Ijoh people from the oppression of his National Commissioners, who have hijacked the fresh delineation of Warri Federal Constituency.

“They should remove their knees from the neck of the Ogbe-Ijoh people and allow us breath by allowing the NPC population/settlements data and actual field work to be used for the fresh delineation in Warri South West LGA.

“The Chairman of INEC is also called upon to take away the process of review of complaints arising from the interim report from these cabal of National Commissioners who are executing their personal agenda, instead of carrying out the fresh delineation in line with the Electoral Act and the INEC Guidelines on the fresh delineation, NPC data and the actual field report.

“The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and the office of the National Security Adviser should hold the INEC National Commissioners coordinating the fresh delineation of Warri Federal Constituency responsible for any disruption to oil and gas activities in Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdom, which is imminent, if the injustice against us is not addressed”.