SSBC journalist says Unity state governor detained him over rumored dismissal

A local journalist in South Sudan working for the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) has told Sudans Post Thursday that Unity state governor Nguen Manytuil Wijang had detained him for over 14 hours on Wednesday over rumors that the governor was being fired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit and that the journalist contributing to the president’s decision with ‘lies’.

Mayin Riam Yok, a SSBC journalist based in Juba and who is sometime attached to the governor’s office, said he was detained at a police station in Juba upon orders of the governor on Wednesday from 8 AM to 9:30 PM, but was later on released after intervention of information minister Michael Makuei Lueth.

“There was rumors that the governor was being fired by the president and without investigating whether these rumors are true or lies, he rushed and concluded that I was talking against him and that is contributing to his removal from office and then I was arrested and then detained at a police custody here in Juba,” Mayin said.

“I wouldn’t have been released from the jail had it not been the intervention of honorable minister of information and the spokesman of the government Michael Makuei Lueth because they were told by the minister if they can’t make a case against me there was no any justification for me remaining under their detention and then I was released,” he added.

South Sudan government has grown hostile to journalists in recent years with several journalist being detained without due process or even killed.