By Ken Afor
Bobi Wine, Ugandan opposition leader and member of the National Unity Platform, NUP, was on Thursday detained as he attempted to enter the nation at Entebbe International Airport, which is not far from the capital Kampala.
According to a social media post by the NUP, Wine was “violently arrested upon his return to Uganda.” His whereabouts have not yet been determined.
In a video that the party made public, several men can be seen grabbing Wine on the tarmac as one of his associates yells repeatedly, “Where are you taking him? “.
The arrest appears to be an effort to halt Wine’s supporters from organizing a procession outside the airport, as police had warned them to call off the march before his arrival.
Wine, a former pop star who is now a politician and whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was the main opposition frontrunner in the January 2021 presidential elections but fell short to President Yoweri Museveni.
Despite widespread accusations of fraud and intimidation, Museveni claimed he had been re-elected for a sixth term. Wine claimed he had proof of fraud and intimidation and rejected the election results.
As Wine entered the nation on Thursday, the National Unity Platform asserted that its headquarters was “under siege.”
Additionally, his party claimed on ‘X,’ formerly known as Twitter, that footage showed military helicopters hovering over Wine’s residence in Magere, Uganda, and that “security personnel have been stationed all around his perimeter fence.”
Over the years, Wine has been detained by Ugandan security forces several times, most notably in the days before the country’s contentious elections.
On Thursday morning, Wine made a post on social media as he got ready to head back to Uganda saying, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for the Lord is with me — Psalms 23:4. I am coming home!”
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Uganda Police Force said that they had learned of a procession that “a group of political activists, associated with the National Unity Platform (NUP)” planned to begin at Entebbe International Airport on Thursday.
Police urged the organizers to postpone it in order to prevent traffic jams and the possibility that it would draw “criminal activities, posing risks to bystanders, motorists, passengers, and businesses through acts of theft or other criminal activities.”
“We also advise members of the public who may have been mobilized, to refrain from participating in these illegal activities,” the police statement released Wednesday said.
“The Security Agencies will take all necessary measures to ensure that individuals involved in illegal activities are arrested and brought before the courts of law.”
President Museveni is one of the six Africa’s current longest-serving leaders.
The 79-year-old leader came into power on 26 January 1986. He is currently serving his sixth term in office after his reelection in January.
