The Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial Division, has dismissed an appeal filed by Itsekiri representatives seeking to halt the enforcement of a Supreme Court-ordered delineation of electoral wards and polling units in the Warri Federal Constituency of Delta State.
The appeal, filed by Appearance Afejuku, Youth President of the Itsekiri Ethnic Nationality, and three others, marked as CA/ABJ/CV/1457/2025: HON. APPEARANCE AFEJUKU & ORS V. INEC & ORS, was rejected by a three-member panel presided over by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam.
In its judgment delivered on Friday, May 15, 2026, the appellate court ruled that the appeal lacked merit, affirming that the issue of Warri’s electoral delineation has been finally resolved by the Supreme Court. The ruling paves the way for the full implementation of the apex court’s directive on fresh delineation before future elections.
The court also upheld the earlier award of N4 million cost against the Itsekiri appellants.
It would be recalled that on July 1, 2025, Justice Omotosho of the Federal High Court had dismissed the original suit seeking to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from enforcing the Supreme Court’s December 2, 2022 judgment in SC/413/2016: HON. George U. Timinimi & 9 Ors v. INEC. The lower court described the case as a gross abuse of court processes and lacking in merit, following arguments by counsel for INEC, as well as the Ijaw and Urhobo communities of Warri.
In a related development, the Federal High Court sitting in Warri also dismissed another suit filed by the Itsekiris—FHC/WR/CS/37/2025: EJEYI PHILIP & ORS V. INEC—seeking to set aside INEC’s interim report on the fresh delineation released on May 3, 2025. The Itsekiri plaintiffs had complained that they were not consulted before the delineation exercise.
However, the court held that the Supreme Court judgment contained no requirement for the Itsekiris to be consulted prior to implementation. The court further described the suit as premature, noting that the interim report is merely a proposal.
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