24 April 2015, Yenagoa – Iduwini communities in Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, have distanced themselves from a purported threat by a militant group, Iduwini Volunteer Force, IVF, to Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, to vacate Ijaw communities or face unrest, over the alleged termination in 2008, of a surveillance contract Shell had with the community.
The communities, through the President of Iduwini National Movement, Mr. Forcados Kingsley, condemned the purported threat, stressing that Iduwini Volunteer Force, IVF, was not a known group in Iduwini Kingdom.
Kingsley, in a statement, said that while there was a surveillance contract between SPDC and Iduwini National Movement in 2007, the contract was terminated in 2008, adding that the refusal of SPDC to renew the said surveillance contract with INM since 2008 was the cause the current tension in the area which some dissident elements were trying to capitalise on to perpetrate evil.
He said: “The Iduwini Volunteer Force does not represent the interest of Iduwini communities. Iduwini communities that have contract with SPDC are informed enough with properly constituted leaderships to address such issues when they arise and will not resort to issuing threats.”
– Vanguard