Uganda’s Bobi Wine says escaped raid on house amid disputed vote

Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine says he escaped a police and army raid on his house as veteran incumbent Yoweri Museveni secured an overwhelming victory in the presidential election.

“I want to confirm that I managed to escape from them,” Bobi Wine, a former pop star whose real name is ​Robert Kyagulanyi, wrote in a post on X on Saturday.

“Currently, I am not at home, although my wife and other family members remain under house arrest. I know that these criminals are looking for me everywhere, and I am trying my best to keep safe.”

Bobi Wine on Friday said security forces had placed him under house arrest. His party later wrote on X that he had been “forcibly taken” from his residence by an army helicopter. The military rejected the allegation.

Bobi Wine, the country’s top opposition figure, had challenged longtime President Museveni in an election campaign that the United Nations said was marred by “widespread repression and intimidation”.

Museveni, 81, was declared the winner by the country’s election commission on Saturday, extending his 40-year rule, in an election marred by reports of at least 10 deaths and intimidation of the opposition and civil society.

In his post, Bobi Wine said his wife and other relatives remained under house arrest. He ascribed the reports of his own abduction to authorities blocking access to his home and neighbours misinterpreting the overnight “commotion” there.

He reiterated his “complete rejection” of the “fake results” announced by the head of Uganda’s election body, alleging ballot stuffing and the detention of other leaders of his party, the National Unity Platform.

“Aside from the blatant theft of the presidential election, these criminals have employed various fraudulent techniques to usurp the will of the people,” he wrote.