A former state minister on Thursday dragged Central Equatoria State Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony to court over an alleged wrongful and forceful eviction from a government house despite being given an assignment by the national government.
Francis Soka Robano, the former minister of infrastructure in the now defunct Jubek State, told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that after losing his cabinet post following the return to 10 states, he was appointed the deputy director of the ad-hoc committee to look into the grievances communities had with the contractor on the Juba-Yirol-Rumbek Highway by the national ministry of roads and bridges.
He alleges that on 24 August, Governor Adil sent security officers to evict him while he was away, and they broke into the house and made off with about USD 215. He says he opened a police case after the botched eviction.
According to Soka, in yet another attempt to evict him on 22 September, security officers from the state secretariat, with directives from Governor Adil and former Central Equatoria State Housing Minister Flora Jibril, went into the house while he was away, broke in, destroyed his property and went away with SSP 24 million.
“They came when I was in Gondokoro Island for funeral rites. At around 4:30 pm, I heard that some forces from the Central Equatoria Government Secretariat went to the house, broke in, and destroyed all my furniture,” he said.
Soka revealed that when he learned of the governor’s plans to have him evicted, he wrote to Presidential Affairs Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin and the minister of roads and bridges, Simon Mijok Mijak, who wrote to stop the eviction, which communication he says was disregarded.
On his part, Soka’s lawyer, Stephen Martin Nyichar, said they filed a case in the Juba County Court under civil case number 737/2022 before Justice David Moses, whose first hearing was set for Thursday but could not proceed because Governor Adil or his representatives were not present in court.
“My client Francis Soka Robano has lost a lot of money from his home during illegal evictions, and some of his properties were damaged and lost,” he said. “We are in court for him to be reinstated to the home so that he is paid for the losses he incurred during the eviction. Also, we seek payment for moral compensation, and the court should order that we be paid the advocates and the court fees we paid.”
When contacted about the case, Central Equatoria State Information Minister Adruga Mabe Saverio declined to comment and said Governor Adil will make a statement next week.
The Central Equatoria State government earlier in June ordered the immediate eviction of 27 former constitutional post-holders from the state-owned houses.