Delineation: Ozobo Lauds Warri Court Ruling, Urges INEC to Immediately Release Final Report

By Monday Peters, Abuja

The Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI, has welcomed a Federal High Court ruling in Warri directing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to comply with the Supreme Court judgment mandating a fresh delineation exercise in the Warri Federal Constituency.

In a statement issued Friday after attending the court session, IPDI National President Comrade Ozobo Austin described the ruling as “a welcome development and a roadmap to peace and unity among Warri residents.”

The court’s decision reaffirms earlier Supreme Court directives for INEC to conduct a fresh delineation of electoral wards and units in the Warri Federal Constituency, which covers Warri South, Warri South West, and Warri North local government areas.

Ozobo said prolonged injustice and political imbalance had fueled past crises in the constituency, and that Friday’s judgment offers a chance to correct years of marginalization and dominance by certain groups in Warri metropolitan communities.

“Injustice fueled the previous crises in the Warri Federal Constituency, and this morning’s judgment will hopefully restore the years of injustice and over-dominance by a group of people in the Warri metropolitan communities,” he stated.

He urged INEC to immediately comply with the court order and avoid actions that could trigger renewed conflict.

“It is my advice that INEC obey this morning’s ruling, because if INEC refuses to obey it, it will create room for another crisis in Warri and its environs, which could lead to the cancellation of the 2027 election in Warri,” Ozobo warned.

The IPDI president commended stakeholders and community leaders who he said had sacrificed time and resources to pursue justice and equity for residents of the Warri Federal Constituency. He said their persistence had kept the issue alive until the judiciary intervened.

The ruling adds to a series of legal pronouncements on the contentious delineation issue, which has been a flashpoint in inter-communal relations in Warri for over two decades. The constituency’s ethnic composition—comprising Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, and others—has made electoral boundary adjustments a sensitive political matter.

INEC has yet to issue an official statement on how it intends to implement the court directive.

The IPDI said it would continue to monitor the process and engage relevant authorities to ensure the delineation exercise is conducted transparently, fairly, and in line with the Supreme Court’s judgment.