The National Resistance Movement (NRM) Secretary General, Richard Todwong, has said he will never apologize to any party candidate who lost in the recent elections because the party did not support them.
Todwong made the remarks during NRM victory celebrations in Gulu City over the weekend, where he was explaining why the party’s candidate for the mayoral position, Alfred Okwonga, lost to Julius Acire Labeja, popularly known as Gunya, an independent NRM-leaning candidate.
Todwong says Okwonga was unsure about which position he wanted to contest.
He adds that, as Secretary General, he opted to support Labeja, who had previously served as his political assistant when he was appointed Minister without Portfolio in 2012.
He further states that Okwonga, who went through the NRM primary elections unopposed, later wrote to him seeking to change his candidature from Mayor to Member of Parliament—a request he did not respond to.
However, during a press conference following the Local Government election results on January 24, 2026, Okwonga expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome, blaming party leaders for his loss.
He says that upon learning that some party leaders—including Todwong—were not supporting him, he wrote to both the NRM Secretariat and the Electoral Commission requesting to step down from the race, although his request was not granted by either institution.
Okwonga’s case was not isolated. Several NRM members in Gulu City openly supported opposition and independent candidates based on personal preference, arguing that they were voting for competence rather than party affiliation.
Speaking to Favour FM, Lambert Akena Lamex, the NRM Administrative Assistant and Workers’ Representative to the Gulu City Council, said it is illegal for any party member to support a candidate other than the official NRM flag bearer for the same position.
By URN
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