Urhobos from Delta State’s Warri South Local Government Area have objected to being left out of a Monday meeting with National Security Advisor (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu.
The purpose of the daily meeting was to address the controversy surrounding the Warri South demarcation by the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC.
The Urhobos expressed dissatisfaction with their absence from the conference in a petition letter dated May 15, 2025, signed by Chief Westham Adehor and Hon. Mark Ikputi, and seen on Sunday in Abuja.
The two requested to be “granted audience to be part of this meeting for proper representation of our people.”
The letter stated in part: “We, the undersigned Urhobos of Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, write to protest our exclusion from the scheduled meeting with the National Security Adviser on the contentious INEC delineation exercise.”
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They claimed to have represented the Urhobos of Warri South and to have attended multiple meetings at INEC’s invitation.
They further asserted that the INEC report did not accurately represent the results obtained in the Urhobo axis, telling the electoral umpire that the Ljaws belonged to the Agbarha areas and not the Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State.
They complained that they had started to be excluded from meetings after holding a widely reported press conference on Friday, May 2, 2025, about the controversy surrounding the ward and polling unit delineations in Warri South.
“For appropriate representation of our people, we decided to be given an audience to attend this meeting,” they said.
