KAMPALA (Reuters) – Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine said on Saturday he had escaped police and military raids on his home as incumbent war veteran Yoweri Museveni looked set for a landslide official victory in presidential elections.
Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) said late on Friday that a military helicopter landed at his Kampala residence and “forcibly took him to an unknown destination”, but police denied this.
Former pop star Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, said in a post on X that he had successfully escaped the raid.
“Last night was very difficult for our family… the army and police raided us. They switched off the power and cut off some of our CCTV cameras,” he said.
“I wanted to make sure I managed to escape them. At the moment, I’m not home.”
BOBI WINE says family members have been detained
Wine did not reveal his whereabouts but said his wife and other family members were under house arrest, which Reuters could not immediately confirm. People close to Wine say he is at large in Uganda.
National police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke earlier told a news conference that Wine was at home and “has not been arrested.”
Wine accused Thursday’s election of massive fraud and urged supporters to protest. The election was held amid widespread internet blackouts.
The vote was widely seen as a test of 81-year-old Museveni’s political strength, and the near-final results put him well ahead.
The electoral commission said that as of Saturday morning, Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, had won nearly 72% of the vote with more than nine out of 10 polling stations counted, while Wine trailed by 24%.
The vote took place peacefully on Thursday after the campaign was marred by clashes at opposition rallies and what the United Nations said was widespread repression and intimidation.
But violence broke out in the early hours of Friday in the town of Butambala, about 55 kilometers (35 miles) southwest of the capital Kampala, according to police and a lawmaker in the region, who gave varying accounts.
deadly violence
Police spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe said machete-wielding opposition “thugs” organized by local MP Muwanga Kivumbi attacked the police station and counting center and police opened fire in self-defence.
Seven people were killed, three injured and 25 arrested, she said, without elaborating.
Kivubi told Reuters that security forces killed 10 people at his home around 3 a.m. as his supporters waited for election results for his parliamentary seat to be announced.
“They broke down the front door and started shooting in the garage. It was a massacre,” he said.
He said security forces had earlier dispersed the crowd outside his home but disputed police claims that the deaths occurred at that time.
Tumushabe said she was not aware of any incident at the Kimunbi home, which she said was close to the police station.
Reuters could not independently confirm the circumstances of the violence.
(Writing by Maxwell Akalaare Adombila; Editing by Silvia Aloisi and Kevin Liffey)