2023 Election: Delta Communities Urge INEC To Implement Supreme Court Ruling

Some communities in Delta State have urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to comply with the Supreme Court judgment on the delineation of wards and polling units in the Warri Federal Constituency of Delta state.

The Supreme Court directed INEC to conduct a new delineation of “all those units and wards in the Warri Federal Constituency for purposes of future elections” in a ruling issued by the Honorable Justice Uwani Musa Abba Aji, on December 2, 2022.

On Friday, the Ijaw and Urhobo communities in Warri urged the electoral umpire to follow the ruling before the national elections in 2023.

They promised to employ all available legal means to prevent the polls from taking place in the region until the Supreme Court judgment is put into effect by the Commission.

The groups stressed that it would be contempt of court if the electoral authority does not follow the ruling before the general election is held in the area.

According to a communique delivered to the commission after a meeting in Abuja by their spokesman, Hon. Denbo-Denbofa Oweikpodor, the wards, and units within the constituency were created to rig elections and frustrate the desires of the people who live there.

He said: “We know that if INEC is sincere and ready to tow the path of justice, it will not take INEC too many days to conclude the delineation process in the entire constituency.

“Therefore, to proceed to conduct elections without first carrying out the delineation exercise is clearly contempt of court which would be dealt with accordingly.

“We wish to make it manifestly clear that our position is not against the conduct of elections, but rather that the delineation of the units and wards should precede the conduct of elections in the Warri Federal Constituency as against conducting elections on the already destroyed fictitious units and ward structures which would eventually amount to a nullity that cannot be salvaged by any political arrangement.”