Machar forced to relinquish plan to replace General Olony

JUBA – South Sudan’s First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has been forced to reverse plan to replace his nominee for governorship of the country’s oil-rich Upper Nile state, General Johnson Olony Thabo following rejection by General Johnson Olony to be replaced, Sudans Post has learned.

Last Friday, Machar spoke in a lengthy phone call with General Johnson Olony and urged him to immediately report to the capital Juba for his appointment or else be replaced with any other nominee within the SPLM-IO.

However, General Olony issued a statement following an emergency meeting with close associates in Khartoum and concluded that he is not in any position to accept himself being replaced threatening further that he cannot be ‘used as scapegoat’ over failures in the implementation of the peace deal.

Speaking to Sudans Post on Monday evening, a senior opposition official close to Machar said from Juba that the main armed opposition leader has relinquished the plan and instead reiterated earlier stance that General Johnson Olony remains the SPLM-IO nominee for the state.

“There was a meeting between the chairman and some senior members of the SPLM-IO in Juba,” the official who do not want to be identified because he is not permitted to talk to the media over the matter, said. The meeting ended with the return to our previous position that Olony remains the choice for the SPLM/SPLA (IO).”

The senior opposition official further said Olony will only be replaced if he only submitted a person of his choice for governorship.

“Unless General Johnson Olony decided to bring someone. If he went on and say ‘oh I don’t to be governor’ and went on to nominate someone on his behalf, the SPLM-IO will have no choice, but to appoint that person for appointment,” the official concluded.