Last Thursday, the NBS Frontline show abruptly ended, after one of the panelists; Ofwono Opondo sprang from his seat and angrily charged to fight a fellow frontier, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago.
The altercation happened during a discussion of the just concluded Soroti East By-Election where the NRM candidate Edmund Ariko was declared the winner.
The exchange was fueled by the Lord Mayor who alleged that Opondo shot and killed a suspected thief near Kampala Parents School.
Although the show was cut to a commercial and did not return, Lukwago claims that Ofwono Opondo pulled him out of his chair, kicked him in his stomach, and pounced his neck as protected his face from being hit with his palms.
Lukwago hence took to court and sued Opondo for the alleged cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. In his application, he seeks compensation of 500 million shillings for the physical, psychological torture, and trauma the executive director of the Uganda Media Center caused him.
Commenting on the topic, James Onen aka Fatboy, wondered if Lukwago wasn’t a coward since he insinuated the altercation and yet couldn’t defend himself from the outcome.
“If Lukwago had seated calmly and waited for his turn to speak, and Opondo just happened to jump out of his seat and punched him, it would be understandable. But this guy was prodding and taunting him, Opondo had to flip,” James reasoned.
“If you taunt and troll someone and they decide to get up to settle the issue with the fists because of your provocativeness, you better be able to meet them at that level,” he added.
However, the show's co-host, Olive Najjuma discredited the argument, asking whether violence should be justified as an action against provocation.
She asserted that it's common for political discourse to have provocative statements but they do not respond by inflicting harm on their opponents.
“I think Opondo should have exercised a deal of restraint. We have seen people getting angry and they walk off the set, he could have done that. But you don't get up to punch someone just because you are so angry,” Olive said.
They both agreed that the moderator should have intervened to settle the altercation before it escalated into a fight.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, and Sarah every weekday from 6 am to 10 am on RX Radio.