Otiende Amollo: I was reluctant to represent Raila in 2017 presidential petition

juma chrispinus

July 17, 2018 11:14 AM

I had never seen so much irrelevant evidence of that magnitude.

Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo has disclosed that he nearly declined to represent Opposition leader Raila Odinga in the fiery presidential petition that saw the Supreme Court nullify the election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017.

Mr Amollo, who was the face of litigation in the historic petition disclosed that the limited time of three days to the deadline to go through evidence, almost put him off, owing to the magnitude of the case.

“When I was brought in I said this is such a short time, do you have the evidence? I was assured that we had mountains of evidence so I was taken to see the mountains of evidence,” Mr Amollo said in Nairobi during the launch of a book, in an event graced by Uganda’s opposition Chief Kizza Besigye.

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He added: “I walked into this room with a group of about 70 young, good people and I have never seen so much evidence in my life. There were piles and piles of files but when I sat down to be briefed on the evidence, I had never seen so much irrelevant evidence.”

He further revealed that the Opposition team led by Raila Odinga almost lost the petition of the August 8, 2017 general elections.

"They had been working for seven days but what they had been working on was irrelevant for an advocate quite honestly, so we had to start again and I have never spent so much time with little sleep in three days but well, we did it,” he said.

This is the first time the Raila-ally is talking about the case, exposing the intrigues that rocked the National Super Alliance, since the handshake on March 9, which saw Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta bury the hatchet.

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