KAMPALA: Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine claimed on Thursday that he was placed under house arrest upon his return home from a trip abroad. Wine, a former popstar who transitioned into politics and contested against longtime President Yoweri Museveni in Uganda’s 2021 election, has faced multiple arrests in the past.
Wine, while talking to journalists at his residence located north of the capital, Kampala, said that immediately upon his landing, he was forcibly picked and manhandled and bundled into a private car. They then transported me to the old airport, where I was transferred to a military vehicle in the presence of many soldiers and police officers. It was a very humiliating experience,” stated Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi.
And as he speaks, he is under house arrest. There are soldiers and police all around, he said.
Wine also claimed that 300 of his supporters had been arrested, although he did not provide specific details. AFP could not independently verify his claim.
However, the police denied that Wine had been arrested, asserting that they had “escorted” the 41-year-old from Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport to his residence.
In a statement, the Uganda Police Force announced, “We wish to inform the public that the NUP president, Hon. Kyagulanyi Robert, was successfully escorted by our security team from Entebbe to his home in Magere.
A video posted by Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) depicted security agents grabbing him immediately upon his plane’s arrival, while a man repeatedly shouted, “Where are you taking him, where are you taking him.”
Wine’s supporters had intended to accompany him in large numbers to his home, but the police had declared such a gathering as illegal.
