WELCOME HOME: Alhaj Moses Kigongo (second right) and Capt. Micheal Mukula (extreme right) receives Hon. Ariko (2nd left) Speaker Anita (left) delivered him to NRM
NEWS EDITOR MEDIA
FORMER Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Soroti Municipality legislator Hon. Herbert Edmund Ariko has officially defected to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), thanks to Speaker Anita Among and Hon. Captain Mike Mukula for the job weldone.
All indicators show, NRM will endorse Ariko to tussle it out with Hon. Moses Attan Okia in the coming Soroti City East Constituency by election and political analysts have already predicted his massive victory.
Ariko has been serving as the Private Principal Secretary (PPS) to the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament Anita Among.
In her tweet today, Speaker Anita has tweeted, “This afternoon I handed over the Hon. Herbert Edmund Ariko to the leadership of NRM and gave him my blessings as he heads to the Soroti East by-elections. I released him because the interests of the Party are paramount and worth respecting.”
Anita handed over Ariko to the powerful Alhaj Moses Kigongo (NRM 1st Vice Chairman), Hon. Capt. Mike Mukula (NRM Vice Chairman Eastern), Dr. Tanga Odoi (NRM EC chairman) and Hon. Rose Namayanja Nsereko (NRM Deputy Treasurer).
Ariko was first seen with Mukula in Bugoloobi putting on an NRM shirt, four months after losing an MP seat to FDC’s Moses Attan Okia.
Ariko who unsuccessfully contested for the Soroti City East MP seat as an independent, joined parliament in 2016 on the FDC ticket. He is among the FDC members who lost interest in FDC after the 2017 party presidential elections. He was team Gen. Gregory Mugisha Muntu Oyera.
During 2021 campaigns, Ariko was seen in NRM camps that raised suspicions among the members of the community. Some of his campaign t-shirts were also printed in the NRM yellow colour. But the former FDC diehard denied any involvement or plans to join the ruling party then when asked by journalists in Soroti.
From Left: Namayanja, Tanga Odoi, Anita Among, Ariko, Moses Kigongo and Mike Mukula
When he lost the bid to represent Soroti City East in Parliament, Ariko ran to court to challenge the city boundaries ruling of November, 2020. After winning the case, Ariko dragged Attan and the Electoral Commission to court over the election malpractices. He recently won the case.
Click to read this story: WHY ARIKO WILL DEFEAT FDC’S ATTAN IN SOROTI CITY EAST MP BY-ELECTION
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