By John Ogulei
SOROTI CITY
Less than four hours after the Soroti High Court nullified the election of Soroti City East Member of Parliament Moses Okia Attan, the legislator has rushed to the court of appeal to challenge the outcome of the high Court.
In an exclusive telephone interview this morning, 1st September 2021, Honorable Attan confirmed the intention of appealing the ruling.
“Yes, Court received the notice of Appeal. And the FDC Party on whose flag I stand and our legal team agreed we proceed to the Court of Appeal,” Attan said in a phone message.
He also revealed that his legal team notified the Court of Appeal yesterday and that Ariko will be served tomorrow 2nd September 2021.
“We have decided that injustice must be fought, in the whole petition, i was not party, so we have decided to let the Judges of the Court of Appeal to evaluate yesterday’s ruling. Am confident of Victory,” Attan concluded the telephone interview.
The High Court in Soroti yesterday 31st August 2021 nullified the Election of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party flag bearer Attan Okia over election malpractice and voter disenfranchisement.
This was the first election petition ruling of the nine petitions lodged at Soroti High court.
His victory was challenged by his rival, Herbert Edmund Ariko who lost to Attan in the January polls with 419 votes.
In her ruling, Lady Justice Anne Mugengyi had ruled that fresh elections be conducted in Soroti City East revealing that there was no valid election held in Soroti City East for a directly elected Member of Parliament.
The high Court judge had also argued that Court relied on evidence that the election was conducted illegally and the 1st respondent (Attan) was not validly elected as Member of Parliament and ruled that the declaration of the Attan as a directly elected Member of Parliament by the Electoral Commission (2nd Respondent) is annulled and a fresh election be conducted by the Electoral Commission.
The judge also awarded costs to the petitioner to be paid by the two Respondents (Attan and the EC).
But in a twist of events just few minutes after revealing the he was in further consultations with his legal team, Attan has decided to run to court of appeal to save the victory.
“It wasn’t our day in court. This wasn’t unexpected because some invisible forces were against us. But at the end of the day, we shall come out stronger. Plan B was already in motion before today’s ruling and it won’t fail. We shall overcome this,” He said while calling on calmness amongst voters of Soroti City East.
