By Egufe Yafugborhi
ITSEKIRI people of Warri Kingdom, Delta State, have called for the creation of a Warri state with headquarters in Warri township and objected to the demand for creation of Toru-Ebe State by the Ijaw.
The ethnic group presented the position in Ikot Ekpene where the Senate Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution held the South -South Zonal Public Hearing on the bills to further amend the Constitution.
Chief Edward Ekpoko, Tolureju of Warri Kingdom and Chairman Itsekiri Leaders of Thought (ILoT) who led the Itsekiri delegation for presentation of the memorandum to the Senate Committee however noted that Itsekiris were first more desirous of an insertion in the constitution, a clause to protect minority rights than the growing agitation.
The oil rich ethnic group were joined by the Ilajes of Ondo state and the Binis of Edo in the objection to the Ijaws demand for a Toru-Ebe state on perceived conviction that the Ijaws were tenants to them in the territories they were putting up to form the intended Toru-Ebe state.
In the memorandum presented by ILoT on behalf of the Itsekiri and signed by Ekpoko as ILoT Chairman and Sir Amorighoye Mene (Secretary), Clement Omotoye, the presenter told the Senate Committee that state creation would not effectively address the challenges for which most groups are agitating for more states.
He captured that, The Itsekiri produce over 33% of the oil and gas that sustain the Nigeria nation and sadly have no representative at the Senate of 109 members because of their minority position. It has only one Federal House of Representatives seat of the 360 seats. Of the 29 members of the Delta State House of Assembly, it has only 2.
According to Omotoye, ILoT believes, The cry for creation of more states in Nigeria is not motivated by the need to correct any inter-state or zonal imbalance or development. What the people want really is ethnic or sub-ethnic self-determination, and this is a natural tendency.
The Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality demands provision of minority protection clause as contained in defunct Midwestern Nigeria Constitution be included in our constitution to protect the Itsekiri and other ethnic minorities.
It is our position that ethnic/linguistic affinity should be the main consideration in constituting the federating units and not the artificially created/decreed states or regions or zones.
Contiguous group of ethnic/linguistic minorities can be brought together to constitute a federating unit provided there are provisions in the constitution to protect each group as it was in the Midwestern Nigeria Constitution.
Bigger nationalities like the Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani, Ibo can constitute federating units. Any smaller ethnic nationality can join any bigger one with geographical contiguity if their survival is guaranteed by the constitution.
It is then one can say that, in the words of Arthur Richards, to have provided adequately within that unity for the diverse elements which make up the country.
He asserted that the intended autonomous provinces should be granted power to legislate on Forestry, Public Health and Sanitation, Hospitals and Dispensaries, Social Welfare, Education, Land, Town and Country Planning, Public Service of the Province, Local Government including the constitution and powers of township authorities and other local authorities established for purpose of local or village administration.
Omotoye told the Committee, Alternatively if states are to be created, Itsekiri will demand for the creation of a Warri State in the absence of minority protection clause advocated earlier, or true federalism where the ethnic/linguistic affinity will form the federating unit.
The demand, he noted, holds Itsekiris inalienable rights to
preservation and control of our land, preservation of our language, inviolability of our custom and right to participate in the government of this country at all levels.
Itsekiri demand a Warri State as a solution to their minority problem. The area of the proposed state should be conterminous with the old Warri Division, Itsekiri homeland (now Warri North, Warri South and Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State) administered as Warri Kingdom before the advent of colonialism.
In a federal system, the consideration for the creation of state or any geopolitical entity by whatever name called, is ethnic/linguistic affinity and not land mass or population.
The Itsekiris, Binis and Ilajes joint memorandum of objection to Ijaws demand for creation of Toru-Ebe, presented by Chief Ekpoko, renowned lawyer, was signed by Ekpoko for Itsekiris, Chief Osaro Idah, Obazelu of Benin and HRM, Oba (Dr) Obafemi Ogbaro, the Odoka of Ogbaro Kingdom for Ilajes among others.
Ekpoko stated, Today, there are Ijaw on Benin (Edo State), Warri (Itsekiri) and Ilaje (Ondo State) lands as there were Itsekiri in Burutu and Bomadi (Ijaw homeland) before the Warri crises, Ilaje in Ilesanmi, Elolotsemorere, Agogboro (Itsekiri land).
We concede the right of the Ijaw people to describe selves as aborigines of the Niger Delta and to demand for as many states and local government as they wish. We are however unable to accept a situation whereby this group of Ijaw premises their existence in the Niger Delta on the denial of the existence of other ethnic groups in the Niger Delta.
Ijaws are living on large portion of lands owned by the Itsekiri in Warri North, Warri South West Local Government Areas of Delta State, the Benin in Edo State and the Ilaje in Ondo State which they seek to make part of the proposed Toru-Ebe State.
If you create a Toru-Ebe State exclusively for the Ijaws, you raise a fundamental question under the Land Use Act of 1978, vis-�-vis a customary tenant on the land.
There is no way a state created exclusively for customary tenants on the Landlords land can control and manage the landlords land, and make a grant of the landlords land without the consent of the landlord.
Why? Nemo dat qui non habet. No one gives that which he has not got. The Land is that of the customary landlords, not that of the customary tenants. The customary tenants as a State or Local Government cannot make any grant of their landlords land.
Why we do not object the creation of any state for the Ijaw, we are opposed to the inclusion of the portion of lands belonging to the Itsekiri in Delta State, Benin in Edo State and Ilaje in Ondo State as envisaged in the proposed Toru-Ebe State.
Senator Barau Jibrin (CFR), Deputy Senate President and Chairman Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution had told stakeholders at the Zonal Public Hearing that Senate seeks memoranda form Nigerians for constitutional changes aimed at enhancing good governance and promoting welfare of all, the principles of freedom, equity and justice.
He said the task at hand focuses on electoral and judicial reforms, focus on debt management and administration, local government administration and devolution of powers among others other key areas of interests.
He encouraged stakeholders to share their views and opinions in orderly manner and in open mindedness and patriotism, everyone uniting and working in harmony.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Senate Caucus Chairman of the South South, Seriaki Dickson, Ede Dafinone and Ned Nwoko were among senators who also made it to the public hearing.
Advancing the agitation for creation of Anioma state by the Aniomas of Delta, Igbanke people currently under Edo state also urged the National Assembly to be remove them from Edo and be included in the intended Anioma state, citing minority suffering under Edo state.
