(DDM) – The Warri Reclamation Thrust, a pressure group of the Itsekiri ethnic nationality, has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately declare a state of emergency in Delta State.
Diaspora Digital Media (DDM) gathered that the group, in an urgent briefing released on Saturday, September 20, 2025, warned that Warri and its surrounding communities had become the epicenter of ethnic clashes, failed governance, humanitarian displacement, and disregard for the rule of law.
The group declared that the Delta State Government no longer had the capacity or willingness to manage the crisis responsibly.
According to the statement, recent land and boundary disputes in Warri South have already claimed lives, including the killing of one person in Pessu community.
Several properties were also destroyed in fresh attacks.
The Itsekiri group linked the escalation to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori’s failure to implement the 2021 white paper on the judicial panel of inquiry into the Okpe-Urhobo forest reserve crisis and related encroachments.
That unresolved matter, they said, has now triggered renewed conflict between Abigborodo community in Warri North and Okpe Local Government, resulting in further destruction and the collapse of economic activities.
The Warri Reclamation Thrust also condemned a statement allegedly made by Governor Oborevwori on September 19, 2025.
The governor was quoted as saying, “To Warri people, if you want to fight, fight after 2031. Don’t fight during my time.”
The group described the comment as reckless, reducing the lives of citizens to “political arithmetic” while abdicating constitutional responsibility under Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution.
They also recalled the unresolved Okuama massacre of March 14, 2024, where 17 soldiers were killed during a peace mission, saying the absence of credible investigation had further exposed Delta State’s security failures.
The group warned that recurring clashes in Warri South, including attacks by armed youths in military camouflage, had emboldened impunity and worsened insecurity.
They accused both the Urhobo and Ijaw of defying Supreme Court rulings over territorial disputes, while the Delta government merely issued vague appeals for peace without enforcing judicial orders.
The statement also stressed the economic implications, noting that Delta, especially Warri, is central to Nigeria’s oil and gas production.
They warned that instability in the region directly threatened national security, energy supply, and investor confidence.
As part of its demands, the Warri Reclamation Thrust urged the Federal Government to impose emergency rule in Delta State and assume direct oversight of governance and security.
They called for the deployment of neutral security forces to protect all ethnic groups impartially, as well as the establishment of a Federal Mediation and Reconciliation Panel involving Itsekiri, Ijaw, Urhobo, judiciary, and security stakeholders.
The group also demanded urgent protection of oil and gas infrastructure, alongside humanitarian relief and safe corridors for displaced families.
They warned that Nigeria could not afford to let Warri relapse into the ethnic violence that ravaged the Niger Delta between the late 1990s and early 2000s.
During that period, clashes between the Ijaw and Itsekiri communities claimed hundreds of lives, displaced thousands, and disrupted oil production.
The group concluded that peace in Delta could not be sustained under leadership that prioritizes politics over human lives.
“The Federal Government must act now to reclaim order, enforce justice, and protect both lives and national assets,” the statement stressed.
