Upper Nile State Governor Gen. James Koang Chuol issued an order suspending Mustafa Gai Lual as commissioner of Panyikang County.
The order, which took immediate effect Sunday, did not specify reasons for the decision.
Gen. Koang, a military governor appointed by President Salva Kiir on March 19 following violence in parts of Upper Nile State, cited constitutional authority under Article 98 (2) (a) of the state’s 2011 transitional constitution and referenced Presidential Decree No. RSS/RD/J/112/2025.
“I, H.E. Lt. Gen. James Koang Chuol Ranley, Governor of Upper Nile State, do hereby issue this Gubernatorial Order No: 10/2025 for the suspension of Hon. Mustafa Gai Lual as Commissioner of Panyikang County, Upper Nile State,” the order read in part.
Reacting to his suspension, Gai told Radio Tamazuj on Monday that he was unaware of the order before being contacted by the outlet. He said he had left the county for Juba with the knowledge of state authorities in Malakal.
“I have just heard it now from you people at Radio Tamazuj that I have been suspended. I left the Panyikang county headquarters and arrived in Juba last Wednesday, and I have been calling the governor, but he did not pick up my phone,” he said.
“I then contacted the local government minister and confirmed my arrival in Juba. I have no comment on the decision—the party leadership is responsible for discussing the matter with the state government under the power-sharing framework of the peace agreement,” he added.
“The position of Panyikang county commissioner belongs to the party, and it is the party to handle this case. I am not the one to comment or to talk about it,” Gai said.
Gai is a member of the opposition National Democratic Movement (NDM), led by Lam Akol Ajawin, the newly appointed transport minister in the transitional unity government.
The NDM is part of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance, a signatory to the 2018 peace agreement that established power-sharing arrangements at national and local levels.