Tribute to Isaiah Abraham (Part 4)
8 min read30 Days Later: Who Killed Isaiah Abraham?
We tried in our simple way to lead our life in a manner that may make a difference to those of others…what counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead…real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people…Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity… If I had my time over I would do the same again. So would any man who dares call himself a man…many people in this country have paid the price before me and many will pay the price after me—Assortments of quotes from Nelson Mandela, quoted in memory of Isaiah Abraham who was politically assassinated on December 5th, 2012, in Juba, South Sudan.
By PaanLuel Wël, Juba City, South Sudan.
By Isaiah Abraham—It is exactly 30 days since I was brutally killed on the night of December 4th, 2012, at my Gudele House in Juba City, South Sudan. Though I had always expected it, it still came as a big shock and a bitter surprise that, because of my constructive writings, someone would come to my dwelling at the middle of the night, knock down the gate to my compound, break into my house, haul me out of my bedroom and shot me dead, with one bullet in the head, just like a common criminal. As I lay dying that night and as I rest dead here in my solitary grave—never to see the faces of my loved ones, never to contribute to the development of my beloved nation, never to express and expound on my dearest ideas, never to witness and help my children growing up, never to meet and chat with my friends and fellow South Sudanese, never to see the rising sun again etc—I have been thinking hard and deep about one particular thing: who killed me?
And because the solitariness of the lonesome grave has offered me ample time to adequately explore and reason out my thoughts, I have come up with a number of theories that could offer plausible hints about who could have possibly sent those assassins who brutalized me on Wednesday, December 5th, 2012. And since these are only but speculations, the door of possibilities to the criminals who assassinated me must never be closed nor narrowed down to those cited herein, lest the real murderers slip away unnoticed. But above all, lest some innocent ones get pawned and crucified for a sin that they absolutely know nothing about!
Firstly, the security guys around the President for my criticism of the President. The political and military establishments around the president purged me for not only criticizing the president, not only for calling for his immediate and honorable resignation, but also, particularly, for advocating for Dr. Riek Machar as a better replacement of President Kiir. My calling for President Kiir resignation and his immediate replacement with VP Dr. Machar rattled them and they had to take what they consider to be the necessary course of action—killing me.
Secondly, the government saboteurs who hate and despise the President who saw no better plots to embarrass and destabilize the government other than killing someone who have been very critical of the President. Naturally, it would appear as if the President is responsible for my death. Should that be established to be the case, I would bet that they succeeded because all eyes are now on the President and the people around him, especially his presidential security guards. If a poll were to be taken, most South Sudanese would undoubtedly place the blame for my death on the President. Poor President Kiir!!
Thirdly, the Warrap-Dinka Chauvinists around the President who wrongly perceive the current leadership of President Kiir within the prism of their narrow-minded tribalism or clanism. Because they have benefited, and are still benefiting, enormously from the current leadership owing to their kinship to the President, my constructive writings against the government had been a great cause of alarm for them because it, they feel, threaten their very livelihoods. In order to protect, prolong and promote their crook ways of harvesting where they have never sowed, I had to be eliminated and elimination they did.
Fourthly, the Bor-Dinka chauvinists whose relatives were killed, home plundered and cattle raided during the Bor-Kongor massacre of 1991 that was perpetrated by the forces of Dr. Riek Machar and Dr. Lam Akol. These people, I surmise, could not fathom my zealous support for the Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, for the position of the Presidency. How could you possibly support someone who killed your elder brother (Awuol Abraham Chan Awuol) in cold blood in Nasir town, they have been asking me! To them, the Bor-Dinka Chavinists, I was the apotheosis of betrayal and traitorship!
Fifthly, the Khartoum Government’s agents in Juba, South Sudan, who could be out to embarrass the government and to destabilize the country. You see, lots of innocent people—South Sudanese citizens and foreigners alike—have been losing their lives prior to and in the immediacy of my death. Strangely enough, none of those murdered has been identified to be a citizen of the Republic of the Sudan. Yet, there are as many Khartoum citizens in Juba as there are as many Kenyans, Ugandans, Ethiopians, or Eritreans. Have you ever wondered why none of the victims has been a citizen of North Sudan? I have too, lately.
Lastly, the random thugs compelled by the dire economic situations in the country, in the aftermath of the oil shutdown, to fend out for a living, including robbing and killing people. While I am certain that this would be the final line of argument and explanation from the government that is currently buying time to announce that I, Isaiah Abraham, was killed by mere thugs, I, like most patriotic citizens of this nation, strongly doubt that mere hooligans killed me. Did you hear what they took from my house? Find out and make your own judgment; the verdict is already out there in as far as the involvement of the criminals in my death is concerned. It is a non-starter, to say the least.
Of course, the uproar from the public, both locally and internationally—which gladly surprised me—have coerced the tepid government to launch a no-stone-will-be-left-untouched-and-unturned investigation to find, to apprehend and to punish those who killed me. While it was comical to see the security guys promising over $50,000 dollars to anyone who would volunteer any information relating to my killers, my spirit was raised and renewed on learning that the president, eager to prove his innocence and non-involvement in the murdering of his chief critic, has invited the FBI to participate in the investigation.
This was unprecedented because not even during the investigation into the death of Dr. John Garang, the late SPLM/A longtime revolutionary leader, were the FBI invited! Of course, the mere presence of the FBI won’t solve anything, one and for all, for there are still unsolved crimes and mysterious assassinations in the USA where the FBI is from. But one good thing about the involvement of the FBI is that they can’t be compromised by the system—the very system supposed by a large section of the country to be among the chief suspects. The FBI involvement will make or break the government, as we know it, period. They will reveal whether or not they have been obstructed or cooperated with, by the relevant branches of the government, who the killers are and for what motive.
Of course, it is still within the range of possibilities that, even with absolute and sincere cooperation from the government, the killers could not be found owing to the fact that either they are smart enough to have covered their tracks or simply because the crime scene had been intentionally tampered with, making it too difficult to find and follow any lead that could unmask the killers.
Finally, I want to say that the minister of information, Dr. Marial Benjamin who recently claimed that the government has arrested unidentified suspects in the investigation into my death, is a known liar and apologist for the rotten system in Juba. First, the government did claim that I was killed by unknown gunmen, which could be true—they came at night, possibly masked, and it is highly likely that no one saw them. Now they are again claiming that they have detained unidentified suspects in connection with my death. The spectacle is weirdly striking: from unknown gunmen to unidentified suspects?!!
With so much unknown, why can’t the government do the honorable thing and just shut up till they have what they know, and with confidence for that matter? Why hoodwinking the public for the sake of passing time? Do they sincerely imagine that the general public and the international community, with the passage of time, will simply forget and move on?
Absolutely not; you are damn wrong my government. Bring the killers to justice, restore law and order in Juba as well as across the nation, combat tribalism and favoritism, stop corruption, foster peace and social stability, and most importantly, build and develop the nation so that people may have ample opportunities to make honest livings on their own.
In the words of President Kiir, a hungry citizen is an angry citizen. You guys at the top will never have peace of mind till you prioritize to serve and promote the interest of the common man and woman. That is what I was fighting for, not your filthy, ill-gotten wealth! That is what I died for, not your useless, corrupted position of power!!
PaanLuel Wël (paanluel2011@gmail.com) is the Managing Editor of PaanLuel Wël: South Sudanese Bloggers: He can be reached through his Facebook page, Twitter Account or on the blog:http://paanluelwel2011.wordpress.com/
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