On June 17th, the NRM party presented Junior Samuel Engola, the son of former Minister Macodwogo as the official flag bearer in the Oyam North by-election slated for July 6th 2026.
Junior Engola was presented by the party after a long day’s “hide and seek” engagement with about eight contenders who had expressed interest to participate in the primaries.
Those who had shown interest to contesting in the Party primaries were Queen Dorothy Amolo, Amb. Moto Julius Peter, Samuel Engola Okello, Willy Omodo Omodo, Obangakene Augustine, Billie Otto, Adonyo Tonny, Okello Alfred Obaro, and Alinaitwe Henry.
Whereas all the contenders had stepped down, Queen Amolo contested against Engola and gathered some 322 votes against 532 of Engola.
Since then, what transpired leading to his eventual election has been kept a top state secret.
Today, we unpacked the events that transpired that forced other aspirants to opt out of both the party primaries and being nominated by the Electoral Commission.
As narrated by eye witnesses who closely engaged in the political scuffle, below are the thoughtful events that took place.
Two of the aspirants, Daniel Bala and Tonny Adonyo, withdrew from the race a few days before the NRM primary, which was slated for May 17, 2023, leaving seven aspirants in the race.
A highly security source has also revealed how other contenders were eventually coerced into stepping down from the main race in favour of Junior Engola.
According to the source, two candidates including Amolo and Omodo were identified as the main political obstacle to secure Engola’s clear win and a result, the NRM political strategists with consultation from president Museveni were instructed to swiftly act and ensure they are neutralised.
Top on the task as ordered by President Museveni was to ensure that the duo was persuaded not be nominated, and according to the source, Omodo became a soft target when he accepted the sum of fifty million and a job placement.
The security source revealed that later proved to be a hard target and was not easy to convince and this compelled NRM strategists led by the SG Richard Todwong, to engage her in vigorous telephone conversations and eventually meeting her from Gulu.
“Amolo said that the NRM party made a mistake by bringing out the guidelines for the election late, that is, on Thursday, June 15, 2023, and yet the election was on Friday, June 17, 2023,” the source quoted Amolo as blaming the NRM secretariat during the closed door meeting held on June 17th.
According to the source, Amolo first tasked the team who had offered to give all the contenders Ugx 30 million shillings each to give her $10 million to compensate for the time and resources she lost and that she also asked for $1 million for her supporters, a move that they failed to answer.
“Amolo said the team would’ve come out earlier when they’d never wanted any other person to contest against Engola Junior instead of wasting our time and resources, so I insisted I was going to contest in the primaries,” said the source.
Another source from the NRM secretariat revealed that whereas other contenders had asked for job placement, special meeting with President Museveni, and money to compensate for their resources, Amolo reportedly denied all the above and insisted on contesting.
“Queen Amolo asked our SG Todwong and Odoi whether they could construct factories for the people of Oyam North something which proved a bit difficult for him to answer,” said the source.
On June 20th when Amolo was expected to be nominated and the team had failed several attempts to persuade her not to contest on independent ticket, they now resorted to using clandestine strategies of engaging unknown people who would deliver threatening messages to Amolo’s mother, and how they were planning to arrest, or kidnap her if she insists on her move.
The source noted that shortly after losing the primary election, Todwong sent some people to talk to Amolo but she still maintained her decision and subsequently he asked for a secret meeting with her in Gulu city on the guidance of President Museveni, a move meant to curtail her from being nominated on Tuesday.
As if this was not enough, according to the source, after Todwong failing to convince Amolo, he later informed the president who immediately instructed the VP Maj (Rtd) Jessica Alupo with the help of other top members to engage Amolo. President later spoke to Amolo and guided her on how she can best be utilised by the government to spur social economic transformation in Lango and within the country.
According to the source, Amolo after engaging with both the VP and President Museveni directly decided to step down and pledged to work with the government since she had briefed the President about the investment plans in Northern Uganda.
The source said Amolo was offered Ugx 500million but she declined to receive it, and since then, attempt to invite her to go on the ground to campaign for the NRM candidate Junior Samuel Engola failed after rejecting the decision and never endorsed him.
PRIOR TO PRIMARY ELECTION DAY
On Friday, May 16, 2023, the NRM electoral commission chief, Dr. Tanga Odoi, held a meeting with the seven aspirants, but the meeting became heated after six aspirants demanded that Dr. Tanga Odoi cancel the nomination of Samuel Engola Okello after he hid more than 700 delegates out of the 1500 delegates who were supposed to vote the next day.
Dr. Odoi promised to take action after consulting the NRM legal team and giving a result on Saturday in the morning before the election.
On Saturday, June 17, 2023, at around 9:30 a.m., Rosemary Sseninde, the NRM Director for mobilization, turned up very early at the venue for the primary election.
By 11:00 a.m., some of the delegates who were from Otwal and Lira had reached the venue by bus, while others used their private transport means.
At around 1 PM, all seven aspirants entered into a closed-door meeting with NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong and Dr. Tanga Odoi, who wanted to plead with them to step down for Engola, but the aspirants still wanted Tanga Odoi to give them feedback on their plea that Engola junior should be disqualified.
However, their plea was technically knocked out by the NRM leaders, who told them that no one had been nominated by that time and that two more aspirants had also hidden some delegates in Gulu city.
This meeting took almost four hours before coming to an end, and some aspirants accepted to step down in favour of Engola junior.
At around 16:30 p.m., the aspirants, together with party leaders, went to the venue where the election was to take place, and they were all subjected to a declaration of interest, whether or not for Engola Junior.
Four aspirants, including Amb. Moto Peter, Obangakene Augustine, Billie Otto, and Okello Alfred Obaro, stepped down in favour of Engola junior, while Alinaitwe Henry never showed up.
Willy Omodo Omodo withdrew from the election with fears that the election would not be free and fair, but Queen Dorothy Amolo accepted to contest, and later she lost to Engola Okello with 532 votes against 322
Later, Queen Amolo declared her intention to contest as an independent candidate since the election was not free and fair.
On June 19, 2023, four candidates were nominated by the electoral commission for the by-election: UPC Dr. Eunice Otuko Apio, Newton Freddy Okello of FDC,Samuel Engola Okello of NRM, and Daniel Okello of NUP.
On June 20, 2023, three people were to be nominated, including Willy Omodo Omodo,Queen Dorothy Amolo, and Isha Otto Amiza.
However, in the morning, Omodo Omodo held a press conference and declared that he would not nominate after talking to the President.
Otto Isha disappeared totally, and all his known phone numbers were off, while Queen Dorothy kept on giving hope to her supporters that she would get nominated.
At around 16:10 pm, she declared that she had dropped her interest in the nomination after talking to Vice President Major (Rtd.) Jessica Alupo and the President, but didn’t clearly state the reasons.
