Hon. James Wani Igga, Deserves a Big “Thankyou” for his Sacrifices to the Nation
4 min readVice President, Hon. James Wani Igga, Deserves a Big “Thankyou” for Sacrificing his Position to Riek Machar for the Second Time in a Row
By John Adoor Deng, Australia
June 17, 2015 (SSB) — If recent message published in Sudan Tribune, speculating that Hon Wani Igga has reconsidered his previous position to in effect, vacate the First Vice President position to the Hon Dr Riek Machar. In this actuality, Wani deserved our big national thank you for once again giving peace a chance by sacrificing his constitutional position.
If Wani decision to vacate First Vice, happened to precipitate Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the two warring SPLM factions, then Wani will be remember as national hero who at the time of the nation collapse, rescue it by offering his position as ransom for peace and reconciliation.
Although, some elements in the Equatorians region have revealed their irrelevant colours on the post of the First Vice-president (FVP) as their own! For example, one could remember an extreme position expressed publicly by the decorated Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Dr Elia Lumoro, saying, “We the Equatorians will not accept Dr Riek to take over Wani’s position whatsoever, if that happened, we the Equatorians will fight it militarily.”
Indeed, many of us were shocked by this scrupulous position from the Cabinet Minister because such a divisive message was not expected from any layman from Equatoria, let alone a Cabinet Minister, representing the entire country. Dr Elia painted his good self with smelly dirt’s that day.
I lost trust in such a narrow-minded intellectual. I had expected him higher than such pronouncement, but he proved others and me wrong.
Also, in some rallies recently Hon Wani was heard to have defended his position that he will not step down once again for Dr Riek Machar. He lamented that he did it first at the request of Dr John Garang, who did cordially asked him to accommodate Dr Machar after the merger of SPDF and SPLM/A.
For the sake of peace and a victory of a United SPLM and the people of then Southern Sudan at large, Dr Garang convinced Wani to give up his position. Read from his face and mannerisms in these rallies, Hon Wani was not seriously holding to a position nor did he refer to it as a redline. He leaves rooms for compromises for peace and reconciliation purposes.
Unlike Dr Elia Lumoro, who wanted to fight for a position of one man just to loss the lives of thousand Equatorians, Hon Wani will remain as a national hero and a patriotic figure that love the nation more than himself.
He transcended tribal alliances and opted for national salvation. He is not just a comedian, as many critics would want to nickname him so. Truthfully, Wani Igga is a great man with a humble heart, full with leadership qualities and charismatics.
There is no doubt that Hon Wani could lead South Sudan better than others whom majority may think are good leaders. Hence if all leaders in South Sudan; be it in the army, politics and religion, South Sudan could be a better nation.
The Author is John Adoor Deng, a member of Civil Society organisation living in Australia. He is reachable by dengjohn780@gmail.com
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