SPLA-IO spokesman Col. Lam Paul Gabriel speaking to the press in Juba. |File Photo.

The National Minister of Information is urging the SPLM-IO leadership to file a police case following the alleged murder attempt against military spokesperson Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel.

Michael Makuei made the remarks after the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Oyet Nathaniel accused military intelligence officers of attempting to murder Colonel Paul on February 21^st, 2024.

Honourable Oyet, also the Deputy Chairperson of SPLM-IO, labelled the incident as a threat to the revitalized peace agreement.

Narrating the incident, lawmaker Oyet stated that two numberless military armoured vehicles, suspected to belong to the Military Intelligence Unit of SSPDF, trailed and intercepted Col. Lam Paul Gabriel’s car.

Nathaniel says the men dressed in military and civilian clothes forcefully opened the car door and fired at the driver, who sustained minor injuries in Gudele 2 of Juba.

According to him, on discovering that the victim was not Col. Lam, they took control of the vehicle, masked the driver, and drove towards Luri military barracks, initially assuming the driver was dead.

Oyet says after some distance, the armed personnel abandoned the car along the Juba-Luri road after a communication delay with an unknown command.

Nathaniel stressed that the incident followed numerous warnings about threats to the life of the opposition military spokesperson while on duty.

Speaking to Eye Radio over the weekend, Oyet condemned the alleged attempt assassination.

“We Condemn this in the strongest term possible, we don’t even succumb to any intimidation of this nature. This is criminality,” said Oyet.

“We urge the SSPDF to track the occupants of the two vehicles driving number less, they know because they are the ones who commanded them at the time to trail the car of Lam Paul Gabriel block it and grabed him or whoever was inside and shoot at him,” he said.

“They know from which unit is coming from basically and prosecute them in the court of law.

“We want to reiterate our wavering commitment to the revitalized peace agreement and the permanent fire and the security arrangement of the artists.”

Oyet says he reported the incident to the chairman of the Ceasefire monitoring body and denounced it as a violation of the permanent ceasefire agreement signed in 2018.

Meanwhile, Colonel Lam Paul has yet to issue a formal statement regarding the incident.

For his part, the Minister of Information and Government Spokesman dismissed the accusations as baseless and denied government involvement in the alleged murder attempt.

Makuei reiterated the government’s commitment to ensuring the safety of all individuals involved in the peace process, urging the opposition to report the incident to the police.

“If there are such allegations that are usually raised these are meant to obstruct the implementation of the agreement and we should not allow such behaviours and statements to divert us from the mean objectives,” said Makuei.

“We are continuing with the implementation irrespective of all these allegations which are concocted on the way to obstruct the implementation of the peace agreement,” he said.

“If there is anything as such he should a take and report it to the police, and it is an attempt on somebody’s life then it is a criminal case.”