The newly appointed governor of South Sudan’s Wau State, Elias Waya Nyipuoc, reversed a decision to reinstate former mayor of Wau town Elia Kamilio Dimo.

Last week, the governor directed his secretary general to reappoint Kamilio as Wau town mayor, but abruptly changed his mind after the order was made public.

Addressing a public rally in Wau town on Friday, Elias Waya explained that he was advised by local communities not to reinstate Kamilio as town mayor.

"The security leaders advised me that the former mayor was cooperating on security issues, and the citizens in the town respected the man," he said. "But I came to realized that this is untrue after I had received more than 20 phone calls from various groups, and I did not sleep that night."

"I will not any more appoint Kamilio in any position in my government. I respect your decision, so he is not working now,” Elias told the people at the rally.

Kamilio accepted the governor’s decision, though he questioned the process behind it.

"I want to assure the people that I am not angry with the decision taken by the governor, although there were some actions which are not good," he said.

Kamilio vowed to continue serving the SPLM party and Wau state as a good citizen.