National Unity Platform (NUP) principal Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has decided to withdraw the petition he had filed in the Supreme Court challenging President Yoweri Museveni’s victory in the January 14th Presidential election.
Among the reasons Bobi Wine gave court in his application for withdrawal of the petition is bias on the side of Chief Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, the Supreme Court’s rejection of evidence and affidavits that Bobi Wine submitted last week and the continued abduction of his supporters.
However, lawyers representing President Museveni led by Oscar Kihiika have since warned Bobi Wine that he is set to pay heavily in litigation costs and damages following his decision to withdraw the petition.
In the petition filed by Bobi Wine’s lawyers led by Anthony Wameli and Medard Lubega Ssegona, Bobi Wine challenged the results that were announced by the Electoral Commission chairman Justice Simon Byabakama, indicating that Museveni won the election after he scored over 58%, while Bobi Wine came second with over 34%.
Bobi Wine thus prayed to the Supreme Court to annul the results announced by the Electoral Commission and organize fresh elections in which president Museveni would not participate.
Last week he wrote to the same court asking Chief Justice Owiny-Dollo, Justice Mike Chibita and Justice Ezekiel Kurabiraho Muhanguzi to recuse themselves from hearing the case due to conflict of interest but they all refused.
During a pre-hearing session of the petition last week, Chief Justice Owiny-Dollo and seven other Justices of the Supreme Court rejected the inclusion of 127 affidavits onto the earlier evidence submitted by Bobi Wine’s lawyers in support of the petition.
Following the circumstances regarding the way the Supreme Court has been handling the petition ever since he filed it, Bobi Wine has today, Monday February 22, 2021, through his lawyers of Lukwago & Co. Advocates, filed in court an application to withdraw the petition.
