The High Court in Iganga has upheld the election of Adidwa Abdu as Member of Parliament for Bukooli South County in Namayingo District, dismissing a petition that challenged his academic qualifications and accused him of obtaining educational documents using another person’s identity.
In a judgment delivered electronically on October 27, 2026, Justice Patience T.E. Rubagumya dismissed the petition filed by his rival, Sande Clement Achoga, ruling that he had not presented sufficient evidence to prove that Abdu used a fraudulent identity or committed the electoral offence of personation.
The court also awarded costs of the petition to Abdu and the Electoral Commission, which had been sued alongside him.
Achoga had asked the court to declare Abdu unqualified to contest for Parliament, nullify his election and order investigations into the alleged offences. He also sought to be declared the duly elected MP as the first runner-up or, alternatively, have a fresh election conducted.
The dispute arose from the January 15, 2026 parliamentary election in which seven candidates contested for the Bukooli South seat. Abdu was declared the winner with 8,595 votes against Achoga’s 6,177, giving him a margin of 2,418 votes.
Abdu was subsequently gazetted as the duly elected MP on March 2, 2026.
Achoga’s petition centred on allegations that Abdu had obtained academic qualifications through fraudulent changes of identity, including the alleged use of documents belonging to a person identified as Namaani Grace.
According to the petitioner, Abdu had previously purported to change his name from Barasa Ongeso Godfrey to Adidwa Abdu through a deed poll registered on August 13, 2020. Achoga further alleged that another deed poll, registered on September 17, 2020, purported to change the name Namaani Grace to Adidwa Abdu.
Achoga argued that Namaani Grace was a separate, living person and that Abdu had relied on this identity and associated academic documents to obtain a Mature Age/Aptitude Test Certificate from the Islamic University in Uganda, which he subsequently used to secure a certificate recognising his education as equivalent to Advanced Level standard from the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).
He contended that the alleged irregularities rendered Abdu ineligible for election under the Parliamentary Elections Act and amounted to personation.
Abdu denied the allegations, maintaining that he had been known as Adidwa Abdu since birth and had never adopted another name. He argued that he used his own identity and academic documents during the 2026 election and possessed the qualifications required by law.
The Electoral Commission also opposed the petition, stating that Abdu had presented the required academic documents during nomination and that no complaint challenging his qualifications had been lodged with the commission.
Before determining the merits of the petition, Justice Rubagumya considered objections raised by the respondents over the court’s jurisdiction and the admissibility of some of the evidence.
Abdu and the Electoral Commission argued that concerns about his nomination and academic qualifications should have been raised with the Electoral Commission before polling, rather than through an election petition after the results had been declared.
However, the judge held that the court had jurisdiction to examine the allegations under the circumstances of the case.
She noted that although Achoga had obtained copies of Abdu’s nomination documents from the Electoral Commission on November 6, 2025, he could not reasonably have established from those documents alone that the academic qualifications had allegedly been obtained through fraud.
The judge observed that the allegations concerning Namaani Grace’s identity emerged after the election and required further inquiry.
She therefore ruled that the petition was competent and that the court could investigate whether Abdu had been qualified for nomination in the 2025-2026 election cycle.
The court, however, struck out an uncertified police report attached to Achoga’s affidavit because it had not been properly authenticated for admission as evidence. It admitted certified documents from the National Identification and Registration Authority concerning the identities of Abdu and Namaani Grace.
The judge also declined to expunge Namaani Grace’s affidavit from the record, noting that he had appeared before the court, testified and been cross-examined.
In determining whether Abdu possessed the required academic qualifications, the judge examined the evidence concerning his Mature Age/Aptitude Test Certificate and the certificate of equivalence issued by NCHE on May 20, 2025.
The court heard that Abdu sat the Mature Age entry examination at the Islamic University in Uganda on November 30, 2024, and received his certificate on February 3, 2025.
Sewanyana Ahmed, the university’s Deputy Academic Registrar, testified that the certificate was authentic and that Abdu had met the minimum requirements for the examination. He explained that candidates were required to be at least 25 years old and score at least 50 per cent in the examination.
The judge also considered Abdu’s testimony that he submitted his Mature Age/Aptitude Test Certificate and documentation acknowledging its issuance when applying to NCHE for recognition of his education as equivalent to Advanced Level standard.
She ruled that the NCHE certificate issued on May 20, 2025, was valid and had been issued in accordance with Legal Notice No. 12 of 2015, which provides for the verification and recognition of academic qualifications.
The court further found that Achoga had not produced sufficient evidence to establish that Abdu used Namaani Grace’s academic documents to obtain the Mature Age certificate.
Abdu maintained that he had always used his own name, a position the judge said was supported by affidavits from his paternal aunts, Auma Lucy and Nabwire Juliana. The court also considered his national identity card and passports, which bore the name Adidwa Abdu.
Court finds no proof of personation
The judge also examined whether Abdu had used Namaani Grace’s identity or academic documents during the nomination process for the 2026 parliamentary elections.
She noted that the nomination documents for the 2025-2026 election cycle showed that Abdu had been nominated using his own identity and academic qualifications. This was also acknowledged during cross-examination by Achoga and Namaani Grace.
The court further considered testimony from Nakandi Eva Ritah, the Returning Officer for Namayingo Electoral District, who confirmed that Abdu had presented the required qualification documents in his own name. She also testified that the Electoral Commission had not received a complaint challenging his academic qualifications.
The judge concluded that Achoga had failed to establish that Abdu relied on another person’s identity or academic documents during the election under challenge.
Consequently, she found that Abdu had been validly nominated and elected as MP for Bukooli South County and that the allegations of personation had not been proved.
The court emphasised that election petitions must be decided on cogent evidence rather than suspicion, regardless of how genuine the suspicions might appear.
Petition dismissed
In her final orders, Justice Rubagumya dismissed the petition and confirmed Abdu’s election as the directly elected Member of Parliament for Bukooli South County Constituency in Namayingo District.
She also ordered Achoga to meet the costs of the petition awarded to the respondents.
The judgment brings to a close the legal challenge in which Achoga sought to overturn the election over allegations concerning Abdu’s identity and academic qualifications. The court found that the evidence presented did not establish any ground under the Parliamentary Elections Act for setting aside the election.
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