Embattled Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat has spoken out on calls by sections of the political organization to resign after he was accused of accepting billions from Ugandan leader and ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) chairman Gen Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni.
Amuriat is being accused his secretary general Nathan Nandala Mafabi for accepting at least Shs7bn from Museveni during to facilitate the 2021 presidential election campaigns in which Amuriat or POA as he is known within the party was the party’s candidate, the only one from his party to contest in a presidential election besides Dr Kizza Besigye who declined to stand against Museveni after four consecutive runs ended without successes.
The FDC-Museveni money scandal has already divided the FDC into two camps, with the Amuriat-Nandala Mafabi and the Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda-Erias Lukwago camp backed by Dr Kizza Besigye who sits at Katonga.
Lukwago and Ssemujju accuse Amuriat and Nandala of seeking to sell the FDC to Museveni and his NRM, as well as accepting money from the president and ruling party chairman. The money is said to have been used to buy cars and to fight Bobi Wine’s NUP. (See Details Here and There).
But Amuriat has sworn that he has never met Museveni nor eaten his money to sell FDC or fight fellow opposition parties.
He insisted that the party had raised the funds for the election but would not confirm if this was dirty or clean money. He also insisted the sources would not be revealed.
“Dirty or no dirty money, this simply remains an allegation. We found ourselves in a situation where we had to fundraise for the election of 2021. We always go around seeking for money to run our party programs.
In FDC, we have consistently maintained a policy of keeping our sources of money private in situations where these sources don’t want to be known.
When asked by Morning Breeze show host Simon Kaggwa Njala if he had received Museveni’s money, Amuriat said: “No, no, and no. I can confidently say that. “
And will he resign if it is proved that he accepted money from Museveni?
Would you resign if found culpable?”Yes. Definitely, I will have no business in the leadership of the party. We are waiting for the outcome of the investigations.”
A group allied to Lukwago, Besigye and Ssemujju has threatened to throw Amuriat and Nandala Mafabi out of FDC Najjanankumbi head office if he refuses to resign. (Read Story Here).
It should also be remembered that one of the key issues has been the hundreds of millions of money kept at Besigye’s home. (See Details Here and There).
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