FACK-CHECK: Facebook post claiming Yakani doesn’t care about Mayom extrajudicial killing is fake

JUBA – A social media post circulating on Facebook is claiming that the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) Edmund Yakani does not care about the recent extrajudicial killing in Unity State and the detention of teachers in Lakes state.

The post below was published by a Facebook page claiming to have copied the statement from Yakani’s timeline.

Today I want to be very clear to the people of South Sudan and globally.

Dear public, I Edmund Yakani I am not concerned about the extra judiciary killing of arms soldiers loyal to General Stephen Buay yesterday in Unity state Bentiu because it’s not part of Equatoria territory

Secondly I was been receiving a lots of calls from Lakes state about the teachers been detained for almost three months since June and I’ve been telling you people that I’m completely not concerned about that

CEPO is always stands for Equatorians and it’s only for Equatorians and that’s the federalism of which my uncle General Thomas Sawaka Srilo was been fighting about

Have a very good day

©Edmund Yakani.

Sudans Post decided to investigate the post and the source and found that the page is not associated with Yakani nor the statement was coming from Yakani.

Yakani has recently condemned the violence in Unity State including the extrajudicial killing of rebel officers by members of South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) and has called for justice to bring those behind the unlawful act to book.

The civil society activist has also urged, several times, the government of Lakes state to release the detained teachers.

When contacted by Sudans Post, Yakani said “the article published by Radio 64 is fake and loaded with hate speech that does not represent our values.”

He said “CEPO is a nationalistic non-governmental organization” that does not condone tribalism and hate speech.