IYE to Michael Johnny: The Burden of Benevolence, Why the Truth in Warri South West Can No Longer Be Buried, on the Graves of Historical Truth

There is a silence that follows a great betrayal, a heavy, suffocating stillness that settles over a land when hospitality is mistaken for weakness. For the Itsekiri people of Warri South West, that silence has been broken. The air is now thick with the rhetoric of opportunism, led most recently by the insincere echoes of Mr. Michael Johnny.

To speak of peace while sharpening the blade of annexation is not leadership; it is a charade. The Itsekiri Young Elites (IYE) can no longer stand by while the history of our fathers is rewritten by those who arrived as guests but now seek to crown themselves as masters.

Politics, at its core, is supposed to be a tool for equity. In the Delta State House of Assembly, representation is carefully balanced to ensure every voice is heard. Years ago, the Itsekiri of Warri South West did something profound: we stepped back. We looked at the Ijaw residents among us, men and women we had come to call brothers, and we traded our seats. We gave up our right to represent ourselves because we believed in a shared future.

But today, that sacrifice is being spat upon. The very people who were given a seat at the table are now trying to kick the host out of the house. With over five tenures in the Senate, eight years of the Deputy Governorship, and the Speakership firmly in their hands, the Gbaramatu Ijaw still demand more. Their hunger for five consecutive tenures is not a request for representation; it is a campaign of erasure.

Mr. Michael Johnny speaks of “truth,” yet he maneuvers in the shadows of illegal ward delineations and backdoor legal attempts to annex Itsekiri land. He claims Warri South West is big enough for more constituencies, and he is right. But the question he refuses to answer is one of blood and soil: Can a tenant negotiate away the compound of his landlord?

Our history is not a secret. The Ijaw came to the Itsekiri homelands as fishermen and sea pirates. They were met not with hostility, but with open arms. We gave them land to dwell on, shared our masquerades, and taught them our tongue. We lived as one until the ambition of a few turned into the violence of the Warri Crisis, bringing in outsiders to turn a peaceful home into a battlefield.

To hear Michael Johnny now call for peace on national television, the same man who has repeatedly used that platform to threaten the Itsekiri, is a bitter irony. You cannot plot to steal a man’s inheritance on Monday and preach “brotherhood” on Tuesday.

Truth is a stubborn thing. It does not bend to political convenience. Mr. Johnny speaks of the “Ancient Gbaramatu Kingdom,” yet history records a different reality. How can a kingdom birthed in the administrative corridors of 2017 claim the title of “Ancient”? To claim antiquity for a decade-old creation is a direct assault on the true ancient heritage of the Itsekiri people. It is a lie designed to justify an occupation.

This is a plea to our leaders, to the elders and the stakeholders of Warri South West and Warri North. Look to our neighbors in Sapele and Ethiope West. Do they allow their political relevance to be traded away? No. They understand that once you give away your voice, you lose your soul.

If we continue to grant relevance to those who seek to displace us, we are architecting our own disappearance. When our leaders must “consult” those who deny our ownership of the land, the foundation of our kingdom trembles.

Peace is a beautiful goal, but it cannot be bought with the currency of lies. We will not negotiate our ancestral lands on a “give and take” platform. You cannot “give” what is not yours, and we will not “take” a secondary status in our own home.

The Itsekiri Young Elites stand firm. We remember the hospitality of our ancestors, but we also remember their strength. To Mr. Michael Johnny and those who follow his path: the truth is out, and it is no longer for sale.