The headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja became the centre of a peaceful protest on Wednesday as the Warri Indigenous Women Forum voiced concerns over a recent ward redelineation exercise in Delta State.
Naijaonpoint reports that the women claimed the changes could threaten the political representation of the Itsekiri people.
The protesters asked INEC to halt the redelineation immediately, warning that continuing the exercise while court cases are still ongoing could be seen as contempt of court and might disrupt peace in the Niger Delta.
They also called on the Federal Government, the United Nations, and the global community to take notice of the situation, describing it as one with serious political and social consequences.
The protest concluded with the submission of a formal petition to INEC.
The women were represented by Mrs. Tenumah Alero, Chairperson of the Warri Indigenous Women Forum, while INEC received the petition through Professor Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, National Commissioner for the North West, who spoke on behalf of the Commission.
In their petition, the women criticized the exercise, reportedly carried out under former INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, as violating the rights of the Itsekiri people.
They insisted that the ancestral lands of the Itsekiri are entirely within the Warri Federal Constituency.
The petition also detailed past conflicts and marginalization faced by the Itsekiri, dating back to 1999, and accused neighboring communities of orchestrated efforts to weaken their political influence.
The women also said that the exercise appeared flawed and politically motivated.
They raised concerns that INEC was proceeding despite ongoing legal cases, including one at the Federal High Court (Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CV/443/2025) and another at the Court of Appeal (Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CV/1457/2025).
The petition further accused INEC of allegedly creating polling units in areas outside Warri for non-residents, and cited a December 2025 Court of Appeal ruling affirming Itsekiri ownership of Ogbe-Ijoh community.
The women warned that allowing the redelineation to continue could leave the Itsekiri as the only ethnic group in Nigeria without its own local government.
They urged the Federal Government to prevent what they described as an attempt at political marginalization disguised as administrative changes.