Fungaroo, who is currently rallying grassroots support for the party in West Nile, Acholi and Lango regions told the press over the weekend that the UPDF brigade in West Nile and Gulu have been involved in secret meetings in Koboko and Arua with key agenda on how to remove him from Obongi constituency.
The
Member of Parliament Obongi and Forum for Democratic Change - FDC Secretary for
Mobilization for Northern Uganda Hassan Fungaroo has raised concern over
alleged UPDF plans to meddle in the political affairs of Obongi district.
Fungaroo,
who is currently rallying grassroots support for the party in West Nile, Acholi
and Lango regions told the press over the weekend that the UPDF brigade in West
Nile and Gulu have been involved in secret meetings in Koboko and Arua with key
agenda on how to remove him from Obongi constituency.
The
FDC stalwart who is seeking re-election for the fourth term as MP for Obongi
revealed that because of the full structures of FDC he has established in the
new Obongi district and the entire West Nile, he has become a threat to the
NRM, who have now resorted to using the army to intimidate FDC supporters in
the district.
“There
are schemes to attack all the opposition members in Obongi and West Nile and
these have been planned in meetings in UPDF barracks in Koboko and Bondo to
curve out ways of suffocating him,” said Fungaroo.
According
to Fungaroo, the army should not be involved in election maneuvers but maintain
neutrality as a force for the territorial integrity of the Country in the wake
up to the 2021 general elections.
Without
disclosing further details of the racket, Fungaroo said a battalion of UPDF under
the docket of the 409 brigade in West Nile have been lined for deployment in
Obongi to stifle the strong FDC party support and also grab land of the people
being prospected for oil.
// Cue in; We have
candidates.…//Cue out; land grabbing….
"//
However, when contacted on the MP’s allegations,
Colonel Elly Kayanja, the Brigade Commander 409 in West Nile who is
reportedly chairing the said meetings vehemently denied the allegations,
describing it a
total lie.
Colonel Kayanja wonders
where such allegations are emanating from adding that he is not aware of
any
plot of such kind to suffocate MP Fungaroo.
// Cue in; Completely no.…//Cue out; I don’t know…."
//
As the party primary
campaigns take center stage, NRM supporters are seemingly scheming to unseat
parliamentary candidates currently held by the opposition in West Nile.
FDC in West Nile
currently occupies three parliamentary seats in Obongi, Maracha County and
Jonam County, but the party has vigorously embarked on establishing offices in
all the sub counties in W. Nile.
In 2016, MP Fungaroo
raised similar allegations against the UPDF, who, he accused of torturing
members of his red brigade that worked against rigging of the elections.
Candia Stephen
Freelancer