NUP presidential petition was a waste of paper, very shallow and empty- Museveni lawyers

The lawyers representing President Yoweri Museveni have said that the petition from National Unity Platform Presidential flag bearer Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine is the weakest they have ever encountered.

Speaking to NBS TV, Lawyer Jet Tumwebaze confirmed that they have been served with the petition and have perused through it over the days, however it is as shallow and empty.

“We were served and have had an opportunity to read through the petition and I can tell you for certain, it is shallow as a porthole, short on content and empty of substance, it is one of those petitions that is so much waste of paper!” Tumwebaze claimed.

He stated that this kind of petition is the weakest they have ever received.

“It is the kind of petition any judge would dismiss with a wide smile,” he added.

Tumwebaze said they are ready to file the first batch of answers on Thursday and then file the next batch three days later.

He said that for such a petition, they expected something substantial only to find a bunch of allegations.

“They filed a petition and started calling Ugandans to give them evidence, this is not how things work. They are already engaging in a fishing expedition. We spent nights to read the petition and wondered why we wasted these nights,” Tumwebaze said.

Tumwebaze accused the NUP team of having no evidence even in their petition.

“It is like a team of primary school kids throwing around stones, one day the petitioner will also sit down and wonder what they were writing,” he said.

Tumwebaze claimed that they were ready for a legal showdown but are very disappointed in a petition too empty.

“When you compare the last petition, it was very well-drafted and prepared, but this one is just all over and nowhere. When you read it, you start wondering what they were up to, so many allegations completely far away from the election,” he said.

On why they have hired over 40 lawyers to handle such a petition, Tumwebaze said that the petition is demanding because if someone throws you 500 lousy affidavits, you, must respond to all of them.

“We are not underestimating the lawyers from the other side, we are simply saying the petition has nothing,” he said.

Bobi Wine and NUP filed a petition challenging the victory of President Yoweri Museveni.

In his petition, the NUP presidential candidate in the concluded election says the campaigns and the subsequent elections were not free and fair, rendering the outcome nugatory.

“The election was invalid on grounds that it was not conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the provision of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, the Presidential Elections Act and the Electoral Commission Act,” Kyagulanyi says.

The presidential candidate in just concluded election says that his campaigns were always disrupted by police and on many occasions, they never happened, despite clearance from the relevant authorities.

“Contrary to section 3 and 2 of the Presidential Elections Act, officers of the Uganda Police Force and the UPDF on several occasions and in several parts of the country prevented the petitioner from carrying out his nationwide consultations in preparation for his nomination as a presidential candidate.”

He also accuses the Electoral Commission of failure to deal with multiple voting and ballot stuffing in various parts of the country during the elections whereas the body also failed to ascertain, transmit, tabulate and declare the actual results of the presidential elections with transparency.

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