Jan 27, 2021(Nyamilepedia) — The Upper Nile State Nominee General. Johnson Olony has refused to be replaced by the First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar as the preferred candidate of the state.
Oony said that the decision was reached after a consultation with the political and military leadership of the state.
“After consulting with the political and military leadership, and on the background of your phone call regarding my going to Juba or changing me to another candidate, the political and military leadership refused to replace the candidate Johnson Olony with another candidate,” said Johnson Olony in a statement extended to the media.
While addressing the same subject to the members of the press, the former minister of the now-defunct Fashoda State, Maurice Orach, explained that they had received a phone call from Machar, asking Olony to go to Juba as a last resort for his appointment, but they rejected the decision due to security concerns.
“We want to set the facts straight for the people of South Sudan that on January 22nd January, Riek Machar called the governor candidate, Johnson Olony, and asked him to go to Juba because the situation in Juba has become difficult and it is necessary for him to go to Juba to be appointed governor, but we reject this idea as the political and military leadership,” Orach said.
Also, Shilluk Agwelek, a paramilitary group fighting alongside the SPLM/A-IO, has rejected the planned replacement of its leader, General Johnson Olony, an SPLM-IO nominee for Upper Nile state.
The appointment of Olony has become a tough call with the President and the first vice president calling for Gen Olony to return to Juba for his appointment, a call that he is yet to accept.
Consequently. Upper Nile has remained the only state in South Sudan without a governor or a deputy governor.
