Bobi Wine: Uganda soldiers, policemen take over party offices

Uganda opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine said armed military and police officers have taken over his party’s (National Unity Platform) offices in Kampala.

Bobi Wine stated this on Monday morning via his verified Twitter account.

“Heavily armed military and police have once again raided our party offices in Kampala. No one allowed to go in or come out,” Bobi Wine stated.

The 38-year-old activist, however, accused President Yoweri Museveni of intimidating him.

“Museveni after committing the vilest election fraud in history has resorted to the most despicable forms of intimidation,” he added.

The alleged takeover of party offices in Kampala came after Wine stated that he has video footage of ballot-box stuffing, soldiers forcing people to vote in a certain way, or pre-ticking ballots.

Wine, who has been under house arrest, also said he has been unable to meet his party officials to decide on a way forward but “we are putting all non-violent, all legal and all constitutional options on the table and that includes peaceful and legal protests”.

Wine on Sunday also called on the international community to demand he be released from “house arrest” after a disputed election returned President Yoweri Museveni to the office for a sixth term.

The former ragga singer turned lawmaker, who came second in the presidential election, has not left his home since he went out to vote on Thursday, and has said his home is surrounded by hundreds of police and soldiers.

“It’s now four days since the military surrounded our home and placed my wife and I under house arrest. We have run out of food supplies and when my wife tried to pick food from the garden yesterday, she was blocked and assaulted by the soldiers staged in our compound,” Wine tweeted on Sunday.

A Ugandan police spokesman confirmed the siege and said it was done to prevent Bobi Wine from inciting violence.

Lt Col Deo Akiiki, Uganda’s deputy military spokesperson, gave a different reason for the siege.

He said soldiers were at Wine’s house to protect him.

“As a presidential candidate, do you want his security to be compromised? It’s not a deployment to arrest him. It’s a deployment to keep his security like any other presidential candidate has. It’s as simple as that.”