By Alexander Mackey Okori
The NRM Electoral Commission has given former Jie County Moses Adome Bildad two-days to serve Peter Lonya also known as Jupitex, with a copy of a petition challenging the recent concluded NRM party structure elections in Kotido Municipality.
Lonya, the current LCIII chairperson of Kotido West Division, was declared NRM party chairman for Kotido Municipality on May 21, 2025 after securing 79 votes against Adome’s 74.
Despite conceding defeat on Election Day, Adome made a U-turn and filed a petition seeking the NRM Electoral Commission to nullify Lonya’s victory, citing election fraud and other irregularities.
In his petition, Adome alleged that candidates were not provided with NRM election guidelines and that the official venue was changed on Election Day, disenfranchising candidates and voters.
He also cited intimidation of voters by his rival’s camp and venue, voter intimidation, and denial of access to the electoral area for his supporters as grounds for nullification of Lonya’s victory.
The hearing of the petition was set for Thursday, May 29, 2025, by a panel of the party’s Election Commissioners.
However,the NRM Electoral Commission, Dr. Tanga Odoi on Thursday May 29, 2025, citing that Adome didnt serve copies of the petition to Lonya or NRM party Registrar John Paul Namuya.
“We heard that petition yesterday but we couldn’t proceed with the hearing process because the petitioner failed to serve the respondent with a copy, neither did he serve the district party Registrar, John Paul Namuya,” said Dr. Odoi.
He added that the petitioner has until Monday to serve the respondent with a copy of the petition, or else the petition will be dismissed without costs.
When contacted on Friday, May 30, 2025, Adome, who was at the NRM Secretariat, admitted to not serving the respondent with a copy of the petition, citing that he was not the first respondent.
He explained that their petition was not against Peter Lonya but the party’s Electoral Commission for the irregularities that marred the electoral process.
Adome said that the case was postponed to Monday, June 2, 2025, to allow him and his team time to serve the respondents with a copy of the petition.
According to him, they were going to serve Lonya and his team with the copy of the amended petition before the two-day deadline.
Efforts to get a comment from Kotido District NRM chairman elect, Peter Lonya alias Jupitex were futile as his telephone was not available by press time.
In a separate incident, the Jie County MP Peter Abrahams Lokii, who lost the Kotido District NRM seat last week to Dr. Paul Lochap and his team, has also filed a petition seeking the nullification of the elections.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Lokii and his team alleged that their voters were mistakenly removed, while Dr. Lochap’s camp used ineligible voters.
However, Dr. Lochap denied receiving a copy of the petition from Lokii, challenging his victory.
He said that even if Lokii has challenged his victory, the petition is dead on arrival, citing that the electoral process was free and fair as it was being conducted by officials from the secretariat.
Meanwhile John Paul Namuya, the Kotido District NRM Registrar said that his office hadn’t received any petition as of Friday, noting that issues of election petitions are beyond his capacity.
He explained that all NRM party elections are handled by the party’s legal team in Kampala, adding that his role as party district registrar is to conduct elections and declare the winners.
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