Aruu County MP Odonga Otto changes to NRM
By Angela Nyakuni
The Aruu County Member of Parliament Samuel Odonga Otto who was granted bail this week has changed to National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Odonga says in politics you disagree but it does not make you enemies. He said that you can disagree politically but that does not make you enemies. “You have to give credit where its due,” Odonga said.
“If the President can hold peace talks with Joseph Kony who cut off peoples’ ears, why can’t he intervene in my issues when I being squeezed?’ queried Odonga.
He said those that are in the politics of hate, he is not among. “The President even attended my father’s funeral. I am now a freelancer. I will speak about the good and bad in NRM,” Odonga concluded.
Otto was this week granted cash bail of 2 Million Shillings by Pader Grade One Magistrate Edward Akwankwasa Bayo on Tuesday. Otto was represented in court by his lawyers Charles Dalton of Dalton Opwonya and Co. Advocates and his wife Juliet Oyulu Otto.
The lawyers presented three sureties who were all bonded at 4 Million Shillings non-cash.
They were the Kilak South MP Gilbert Olanya, Pader District Woman Member of Parliament Catherine Doreen Oketayot Lowila, and the Chairperson Urban Council Pader, Fearless Kilama Wod’Acholi.
Earlier in his submission to the court, the Resident State Attorney Patrick Ojara noted that the sureties produced by the accused defense lawyers were substantial.
He however urged the court to set stringent terms for the accused.
Bayo while granting Otto bail cautioned him against involving himself in any activity that might disrupt the court process.
Otto is expected to re-appear before the same Court on April 6.
The accused lead lawyer Charles Dalton Opwonya welcomed the court decision to grant bail to his client saying that it’s his constitutional right.
Otto’s bail hearing came just four days after the same court denied him bail and remanded him to Gulu prison after he was charged with two counts of causing bodily harm and malicious property damage.
According to the prosecution, Otto is accused of assaulting Henry Mugisha, a driver of a Fuso truck registration UAR 234C and smashing the vehicle windscreen. The incident reportedly happened on May 6, 2018, at Ogan Kanakok, Pajule sub-county in Pader district.
Otto however denied all the charges against him on Friday last week while appearing before the Grade One Magistrate Edward Akwankwasa.
The MP’s woes begun on Tuesday last week after his arrest in Gulu city by the police led by the Deputy Director at the Criminal Investigation Directorate Francis Olugu. He is also facing two other charges of illegal possession of a firearm and assault on a journalist.
Otto is expected to appear at the Magistrate’s Court in Gulu later today for mention of the case involving the assault of a journalist.