The leadership of the Ikantu Community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State has reaffirmed its ancestral roots as part of the Ijaw ethnic nationality.
In a press conference held on June 6, 2025, the community leaders strongly rejected claims that they belong to the Itsekiri nation, describing such assertions as “misguided.”
The community’s traditional head, Pa. Edwin Atikan Atemubagha, led the affirmation, tracing their history to the 11th century and emphasizing that their founding ancestor, Oweizibiri, was a full-blooded Ijaw man from Oporoza, the traditional seat of the Gbaramatu Kingdom.
The leaders acknowledged intermarriages with Itsekiri women, which introduced linguistic influences, but insisted that this does not redefine their Ijaw ethnicity.
The community condemned attempts to affiliate them with the Itsekiri nationality, warning that such actions could stir unnecessary conflict and threaten peace and unity within the Gbaramatu Kingdom and the broader Ijaw nation even as they vowed to resist any attempt to alter their historical and cultural identity through peaceful and lawful means.
The Ikantu Community reiterated its loyalty to the Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Oboro Gbaraun II, and called for unity among Niger Delta ethnic nationalities.
In a final declaration, they affirmed: “Kantu was never and will never be part of the Itsekiri ethnic group. We stand firmly as Ijaw.”
