The proposed ward delineation exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Warri Federal Constituency has sparked controversy, as protesters under the aegis of Concerned Itsekiri Leaders demand the reconstitution of the committee with neutral officers.
Citing alleged ethnic bias, the protesters insist that INEC revert to the legal 10-ward structure in Warri South Local Government Area before the exercise commences.
“The protesters argue that their confidence in the exercise will be bolstered if the INEC coordinator and other officials are from neutral ethnic groups, as they currently perceive a potential bias due to the ethnic backgrounds of the current committee members,” they argue.
Overseeing the exercise as the Supervising Commissioner for Cross River, Delta and Edo states is Professor Rhoda Gumus. Meanwhile, Elemson Jumbo has been tasked with supervising the ground operations. The ethnic backgrounds of these officers, however, have raised concerns among the protesters.
This is even as stakeholders of the three ethnic nationalities held their meeting at the Government House Annex, Edjeba in Warri South LGA, to chart a course for the delineation exercise scheduled to kick off Wednesday, July 10.
Despite these concerns, stakeholders from the three ethnic nationalities – Itsekiri, Ijaw, and Urhobo – held a meeting at the Government House Annex, Edjeba in Warri South LGA on July 10, in an effort to find a collaborative solution to the issue and ensure that the exercise is conducted in a fair and transparent manner.
The Itsekiri group in a press statement made available to newsmen at the premises of the Government House Annex among rejected the delineation exercise, urged the electoral body to comply with a High Court judgement that earlier ordered a reversal to the original 10 ward structures in Warri south LGA before it was raised to 12 wards by the electoral body.
The group in its statement signed by F.J. Atie Esq. also called for reconstitution of the supervisory body constituted by INEC to drive the delineation exercise, noting that the head, Professor Rhoda and two others were of Ijaw extraction, an ethnic group they alleged was an interested party on the ward structure they were agitating against.
“We came as a result of our chairman sending us. I am representing our chairman”, she said.
Their statement reads in parts: “On its own and suspiciously in our view, for today’s activity and all the arrangements leading thereto, INEC set up 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, and the Head of Operations is Elemson Joseph Jumbo, again an Ijaw man. No single Itsekiri was invited for the very first set of stakeholder meetings to consummate this exercise”.
