The Governor of South Sudan’s Ruweng State, Theji Da Adwad Deng, has formally declared his defection from the armed opposition faction allied to First Vice President Taban Deng Gai and joined Kiir’s SPLM faction on Thursday.

Thejii was appointed in January by President Kiir as a nominee of the SPLM-IO faction under Taban Deng Gai as part of the 2015 power-sharing deal. It was not immediately clear whether his defection would lead to the loss of the position.

In a resignation letter addressed to the SPLM-IO leader Taban Deng, Governor Theji accused his boss of forcefully occupying a piece of Ruweng land known as Wath Daluel and renamed it Manga.

“Cde Taban Deng Gai occupied one of the key areas of Ruweng state known as Wath Danluel (which he renamed as Manga) illegally since 2005 and continues to insist to return to perpetuate his illegal occupation of this Ruweng land after peace agreement,” he wrote.

“This is a direct abuse of his powers as the First Vice President, which to me is unacceptable. I cannot and will never allow an inch of my communities’ land to be taken by anybody on watch,” he added.

The state official also accused the First Vice President Taban Deng Gai of working contrary to policies of national security for his “self-interest”

He argued that the main objective of the formation of the unity government was to foster and enhance security of the people of South Sudan and reconcile them so that peace could return to the country.

“In the interest of security, peace and stability of the people of Ruweng state and indeed the entire nation, the cited reasons are sufficient for any measure of dissatisfaction. I am dissatisfied beyond reasonable doubt with the policies of the SPLM-IO under leadership of cde Taban and therefore, I hereby officially resign from ranks and files as from 23 March, 2017 and declare my rejoining the SPLM mainstream (SPLM-IG),” he said.

For his part, Dhieu Mathok Diing, the Secretary General of the SPLM-IO faction loyal to Taban Deng Gai, confirmed the defection of their governor. However, he did not provide more details on the matter.

Meanwhile, Bolis Bol Mayiik, the Minister of Agriculture in Ruweng State, confirmed that the governor has resigned from the SPLM-IO faction allied to the First Vice President Taban Deng and joined the SPLM faction loyal to President Salva Kiir.