By Admin 
The Oodua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC) has formally petitioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, demanding an immediate suspension of the ongoing ward delineation exercise in Itsekiriland, Delta State.
ONAC expressed serious concern that the process, if allowed to continue, could provoke a renewed wave of ethnic conflict, destabilizing Delta State and the wider Niger Delta region.
The coalition warned that the current delineation plan is part of a broader agenda to politically and economically marginalize the indigenous Itsekiri people in favor of other ethnic nationalities, particularly the Ijaws of Patani, Burutu, and Bomadi.
In a statement issued on Friday, ONAC described the historical context of the tensions, recalling the devastating Warri crisis, which saw large-scale attacks on Itsekiri communities, followed by the controversial relocation of the Warri South-West Local Government headquarters from Ogidigben (an Itsekiri settlement) to Ogbe-Ijoh (an Ijaw community).
The group further noted that since the advent of democracy in 1999, the division of the former Warri Local Government Area into three separate councils — Warri South, Warri North, and Warri South-West — has entrenched inequalities. The Itsekiri people, ONAC stated, were unjustly allocated six wards each in Warri North and Warri South-West, while the Ijaws received four wards each.
ONAC emphasized that without immediate federal intervention, Delta State risks descending into another cycle of violence, with the potential to draw the Yoruba nation into the conflict and destabilize the critical oil-producing region.
“We call on President Tinubu and all relevant federal authorities to act decisively to prevent the escalation of injustice and conflict in Itsekiriland,” the statement concluded.