I was declared winner by EC, Oulanyah
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, also the incumbent Omoro County Member of Parliament, Mr Jacob Oulanyah
GULU. The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, also the incumbent Omoro County Member of Parliament, Mr Jacob Oulanyah, has disputed allegations that he was involved in vote rigging in the recently concluded parliamentary race.
Mr Oulanyah, who competed with his rival, FDC’s Simon Toolit for the Omoro county MP race, was controversially declared winner by Gulu returning officer, Mr Benson Obete, on Friday evening without an accompanying vote tally.
Speaking to Daily Monitor in an interview on Monday, Mr Oulanyah said the allegations against him were baseless. He said on the election day, he left his constituency by 9pm, adding that he was clueless about the allegations.
“What happened in Omoro that night, I don’t know, all I know is that the next day, I was declared the winner by the Electoral Commission of which I personally attended, so where do those allegations come from?
When asked about the recent discovery of 10 ballot boxes in his constituency on Saturday morning, Mr Oulanyah refused to comment on it saying the returning officer is best suited to respond to it.
“When these boxes were found, I was already in Kampala, I cannot say a word about it,” Mr Oulanyah said.
Mr Benson Obete, the Gulu returning officer told Daily Monitor in an interview on Sunday that the election for Omoro County were free and fair, arguing that the allegations were self-centre interests of the opposition, who want to tarnish his name.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga while addressing the press on Monday in Kampala, said the police has picked interest in investigating Oulanyah’s controversial victory since it was a source of protest in Gulu district.
