Nigeria’s electoral commission. INEC, says it has completed the controversial ward delineation in Delta State’s Warri Federal Constituency and is ready to implement it once stakeholders reach a consensus.
INEC also dismissed suggestions that the Presidency influenced delays to the exercise, saying its decisions were based solely on its constitutional mandate.
“We have done our delineation. It is just to implement. But we are concerned about insecurity. If there are threats to our staff, we can’t go there,” INEC National Commissioner Mohammed Haruna said.
“There is no influence from the Presidency on Warri Ward delineation. Of course, we don’t receive instructions from the Presidency,” he added.
Haruna further said that implementation depends on a secure environment, citing recent protests, shutdowns of oil facilities, and interventions by Niger Delta leaders including Government Ekpemupolo, known as Tompolo.
On the closing of flow stations, he said it is not a direct threat to our staff. “If there are such demonstrations, the atmosphere clearly is not right for us to go and do our own job,” he said. “It is like elections. If there is no secure environment, we can’t conduct elections.”
The exercise followed a December 2022 Supreme Court judgement directing INEC to redefine wards and polling units in Warri North, Warri South and Warri South West local government areas.
INEC’s field report, presented on 20 May 2026, proposed 13 wards for Ijaw communities and seven for Itsekiri communities, and included two additional state constituencies to ensure each ethnic group had representation. The proposal sparked opposition from sections of the Itsekiri nationality.
INEC Director of Voter Education and Publicity Victoria Eta-Messi said the commission had held six stakeholder meetings since the 2023 elections and presented three delineation outcomes, all of which generated objections and counter-petitions.
“Subsequently, the Commission convened a meeting of representatives of all the ethnic nationalities and requested them to reach a consensus on their preferred arrangement and communicate their position to the Commission, which has yet to happen,” she said.
Mr Haruna noted that INEC is open to implementing an arrangement agreed by Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo communities, but no timeline had been fixed. The commission is currently on break and will deliberate on recent developments, he added.
When informed that community leaders had announced an end to protests after meeting President Bola Tinubu in Abuja on Thursday night, Mr Haruna welcomed the news.
“If they say there is no more protest, that is good news. It means we will be able to go ahead with the work,” he said.
He clarified that INEC’s recent restoration of suppressed state constituencies elsewhere did not affect the Warri dispute, saying “State constituencies do not affect federal constituencies. There is no disagreement over the state constituencies.”