Ahead of the 2023 General Election, the Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to obey a court ruling given in 1998 which ruled against the wrong delineation of constituency in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
NHRC which comprises of 135 civil society groups, said the call came, following complaints it received from the people of Warri concerning the delineation of Wards in Delta State, which affected the electorate in the designated area.
Addressing a press conference in Lagos, NHRC spokesperson, Mr Taiwo Adeleye, while noting that the affected Itsekiri communities were fighting for their rights to vote as entrenched in the Constitution, said 10 wards had existed in Warri South Local Government Area and INEC went ahead and created additional two wards, which favoured only an ethnic group in the local government area.
According to him, the exercise done by the electoral body did not put other ethnic groups rights into consideration, saying it “was done in bad fate as it diminished access to polling units and robbed many voters in the affected communities to exercise their franchise as guaranteed by law.”
This was just as Adeleye sadly said that the electoral umpire was yet to revert itself 10 years after a high court in Benin gave its ruling on the issue.
NHRC said this was despite the fact that INEC offices in Warri and Asaba, Delta State Resident Electoral Commissioner and the State Commissioner of Police signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with leaders of the community and with a proviso that the error would be corrected after 2019 General Elections.
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“But as of today, nothing has been done to effect the change by reverting to the 10 wards structure, even in the face of a subsisting court order,” the group said.
“There is a conscious plot by some powerful people motivated by the parochial goal of ethnic repression, to undermine the potentials of Itsekiri in exercising their electoral rights and obligations.
“For over 30 years, we have been told the Itsekiri are 350,000 people. Does it mean that the population of Itsekiri has not increased for the past 50 years? These atrocious actions deny the communities their rights to political expression. We urged INEC not to play into the local politics of the enemies of these communities.
“This constant culture of political annihilation reduces the voting capacity of Itsekiri people and therefore negatively affects their political representation at all levels. The Nigerian Human Rights Community (NHRC) is calling on INEC through the media, to obey the court order.
“We call on INEC to re Erse back the 10 Ward structure in Warrior South Local Government Area of Delta State of Nigeria and accordingly align all materials to be printed and produced for the 2023 General Elections with the said court judgment as was recently done in the cases of Imo, Bayelsa, Zamfara and Bauchi State governorship election result where the Commission was seen to have complied with all the relevant court judgments.
“Democracy thrives where there is rule of law, whereas, of all the democratic institutions, the electoral body, INEC is expected to be the most profound signpost of rule of law and respect for court decisions. We call on INEC to carry out the implementation of this order immediately,” the group added.
Lending their voice to the development, the leadership of Itsekiri National Youth Council, which comprises of Edgar Oritsemeyin, Oritsegbubeuv Gloria, Olley Oritsewiwo and Jemine Agbenen, said effort of government had always been to the disadvantage of Itsekiri people, adding that explained why the population of the entire ethnic group was still put at 350,000 for over 30 years.
They noted that keeping the population figure to as low as 350,000 for the past years was another way the people of the community were disenfranchised, maintaining that the additional two wards created by INEC were to favour other ethnic groups, while the Itsekiri that is even the oil-producing community that should be pacified were deprived and cheated.
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