‘I Am Not A Criminal’ – Bobi Wine Says After Going Into Hiding

Ugandan opposition leader, Bobi Wine, has insisted that he is “not a criminal” after going into hiding in the aftermath of last week’s presidential election, which returned President Yoweri Museveni for a seventh term.

Speaking to AFP on Wednesday in a telephone interview, Wine, 43, said he was constantly on the move following what he described as a police raid on his home, adding that he was being sheltered by ordinary Ugandans.

“I’m not a criminal. I’m a presidential candidate, and it’s not a crime to run against his father,” he said.

Wine, a former singer-turned-politician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, had earlier denounced the January election as a “blatant theft” after Museveni was declared winner with 72 per cent of the vote.

The opposition figure, who was also arrested ahead of the 2021 election, said on Saturday that he narrowly escaped arrest when security operatives allegedly stormed his residence. His whereabouts have remained unknown since then.

In the phone interview, Wine said he was relying on the support of everyday citizens.

“I am constantly on the move, but I am being housed and protected by the common people,” he said.

Wine was reacting to a chilling threat issued on Tuesday by Uganda’s army chief and the president’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who openly vowed to hunt him down.

In a post on 𝕏, Kainerugaba alleged that several supporters of Wine’s National Unity Platform had been killed.

“We have killed 22 NUP terrorists since last week. I’m praying the 23rd is Kabobi,” he added, using a nickname for Wine.

Responding, the opposition leader dismissed the accusations, stressing that contesting an election does not amount to criminality.

Asked about the way forward for his party, Wine said there was no clear-cut strategy under the prevailing political climate.

“In a dictatorship, you don’t draw a strategy, but you respond to the kind of oppression,” he said.

The election has drawn criticism from African observers, who said arrests and abductions of opposition figures “instilled fear” among voters. The polls were also marked by violence and a nationwide internet shutdown.

Museveni, 81, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, has repeatedly accused the opposition of attempting to use violence to overturn the election, branding them “terrorists”.