By Ivan Mwine
Controversial city pastor Aloysius Bugingo of House Of Prayer Ministries, has today appeared before Entebbe Chief Magistrates Court together with his newly wed wife Susan Makula Nantaba.
The two were charged with conducting a wedding that is null and void, following a case that was filed by Bugingo’s ex-wife Teddy Naluswa, through her lawyer Male Mabirizi.
They are accused of violating the customary marriage law which prohibits married people from remarrying before divorce because it is tantamount to bigamy.
Bugingo and Makula, who arrived in a monster Land Cruiser VX with personalized number plates ‘PRAIZ GOD’, both denied the charges before Grade One Magistrate Stella Okwang, who later adjourned the matter.
Shortly after the adjournment, both Bugingo and Makula rushed to their car before quickly driving away.
In the case registered as 666 of 2021 of Entebbe Chief Magistrates court, Naluswa accuses Bugingo of entering into a legally binding marriage with Makula, well knowing that he is still legally married to Naluswa because despite the fact that they separated several years ago, they have never been legally divorced.
Mabirizi filed the case shortly after Bugingo and Makula held a traditional wedding on Decemeber 7th, 2021, in Katabi, in Entebbe, which was attended by a few invited guests, many of them prominent Ugandans.
However, when Mabirizi filed the case, Bugingo came out and publicly denied having wedded Makula, saying that she is just a friend who invited him to attend a private party.
But Mabirizi trashed Bugingo’s denial oof having married Makula as hogwash and applied to court too compel some people who attended the function among them Pastor Simeon Kayiwa. Frank Gashumba and others to appear in court as witnesses in the matter.
Mabirizi, who also applied to court to compel media houses that broadcast the function to avail him with footage of the same, pulled the move after the ‘witnesses’ rejected his pleas to them to be part of the case.
Bugingo and Naluswa, who got married on December 20, 2003 at Victory Christian Centre, have grown up children together despite their separation, are currently involved in a divorce battle that rotates around sharing the multibillion estate they built during the time they were married, which includes his church, which she wants to take over, claiming they built it together.
Meanwhile, the officer of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), through the Director of Prosecutions Justice Jane Francis Abodo, applied to court a few days ago to take over the case, although Mabirizi has since vehemently rejected this and applied to court to throw out the DPP’s application.
