Fact-check: NILEPET staff didn’t write this planned demonstration letter

Nile Petroleum Corporation (NILEPET) swiftly debunked the letter as fraudulent on their official Facebook page.

Writer: Christopher Luate Obede

A Facebook post published by Sixty 4 Tribes Press, a page that describes itself as an ‘internet company’ on 1 December 2023 with a letter allegedly written by aggrieved NilePet staff about a planned peaceful demonstration, is false.

The letter was also shared and forwarded to WhatsApp groups with the same caption shared on Facebook. “Nile Petroleum Corporation staff had planned for a peaceful demonstration scheduled for Monday, 04 December 2023, at 8:00 am at the Nilepet Headquarters (HQ), Thongping residential area,” the letter read in part. 

Nile Petroleum Corporation, also known as NILEPET, is a national company established with a mandate to participate in the upstream, midstream, and downstream oil and gas activities on behalf of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan. 

A letter allegedly written by aggrieved NilePet staff about a planned demonstration

Claim Verification:

Nile Petroleum Corporation dismissed the published letter with the stamp “fake” by sharing its screenshot on its official Facebook post.

“Nilepet will not hesitate to take the necessary legal action against those who continually use our image and branding to publish content in a negative light,” their Facebook post reads in part.

The company, NILEPET told The City Review Newspaper that the allegations of planned strike were just social media rumours. The news report stated that the staff were going on with their duties, and there was no protest.

Screenshot of the Facebook post by NILEPET.

On the same Facebook page, Sixty 4 Tribes Press published another fake letter claiming that the aggrieved Nile Petroleum staff had called off the protest to first submit their demands to the new chairman of the board of directors.

Conclusion:

211 Check finds a Facebook post with a letter claiming that Nile Petroleum Corporation staff planned for a peaceful demonstration, false.  

The company, on its official Facebook page, Nile Petroleum Corporation and in a news report dismissed the letter as fake.

A publication under 211 Check’s ‘Fact-check for a pay’ Initiative with Support from the International Fact-checking Network through the BUILD grant.

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