Mabior Garang says SPLM-IO has been ‘hijacked,’ debunks reports he resigned

JUBA – South Sudan’s former deputy minister of interior and chairperson of SPLM-IO National Committee for Information and Public Relations, Mabior Garang de’Mabior, has said that the main armed opposition group led by the country’s First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has been hijacked.

The comments by the senior opposition officials come following circulation of unconfirmed reports on social media that he has resigned from the Machar-led movement after coming, allegedly, into disagreements with Machar over the way the revitalized peace agreement is being implemented.

In a brief Facebook statement, Mabior said the reports that are circulating on social media purporting his defection are untrue, accusing unnamed members of the ‘NPTC regime’ and some within the SPLM-IO of being behind the fake news.

“Any information which purports to be from me should be verified on my website (blog). If there is no link to my website, it is fake news,” Mabior, the son of the SPLM-IO founder who is also an influential figure in the SPLM-IO said.

“The NPTC regime, which includes some interest groups within the SPLM/SPLA (IO) leadership are busy doing magendo. They are working hard to discredit anyone who is still insisting on the reform agenda in our country,” he added.

The senior opposition official said there is a problem in South Sudan’s political landscape as he decries what he said is a ‘multi-party conspiracy’ saying the SPLM-IO has been hijacked.

“The issue is no longer a purely SPLM (IG) problem, it is a multi party conspiracy. The (political) leadership of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) has been hijacked,” he added.