Author: BBC | Published: 2 hours ago
Uganda opposition leader Bobi Wine. (-)
Police in Uganda have denied allegations that presidential candidate Bobi Wine was abducted on Friday evening as vote counting continues in the East African nation amid an internet blackout, the BBC has reported.
Wine’s party had said a helicopter landed in the grounds of his house in the capital, Kampala, and forcibly took him to an unknown location.
Initially Wine’s son, Solomon Kampala, said both his parents had been seized, but later claimed his father “escaped” and his mother was still under house arrest, leading to confusion over the whereabouts of the opposition leader.
The latest electoral figures from Thursday’s vote give Museveni 72% of the vote, with Wine on 24%, based on returns from 94% of polling stations.
He said Wine’s movements were restricted because his home was an area of “security interest”.
“We have controlled access to areas which are security hotspots,” Uganda’s Daily Monitor paper quoted him as saying.
“We cannot allow people to use some places to gather and cause chaos. All our actions are intended to prevent anybody from creating violence or destabilising our security,” he said.
On Friday, Wine had told his supporters to ignore the “fake results” that have been announced, saying the authorities have been “stealing the vote”. He did not provide any evidence to back up his claim and the authorities have not responded to his allegations.
Wine’s son Solomon Kampala, who has been posting updates on social media, admitted overnight he was getting conflicting reports about the security situation at his parents’ home.
“Amidst the raid my father was able to escape, my mother is still currently under [house] arrest, still nobody is allowed to enter the house,” he posted on X on Saturday morning.
