- The Ugandan opposition leader had been out of the country on mobilisation tours in Canada and South Africa.
- Efforts by a legislator from his National Unity Party (NUP) who had accompanied him to follow the officers were fruitless as he was also stopped.
Image: NUP/X
Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has been arrested after landing from a trip in South Africa.
Wine was arrested on Thursday morning at the Entebbe International Airport.
A social media post by his social media administrator said Wine was whisked to an unknown destination.
"Our President Kyagulanyi Ssentamu picked off the tarmac upon arrival at Entebbe Airport. Taken to an unknown destination!" the Administrator said.
Our President Kyagulanyi Ssentamu picked off the tarmac upon arrival at Entebbe Airport. Taken to an unknown destination! ~Admin
— BOBI WINE (@HEBobiwine) October 5, 2023
In a video seen by the Star, Wine who was in the company of other leaders was grabbed by police in Civilian clothes immediately after he stepped out of the plane.
Efforts by a legislator from his National Unity Party (NUP) who had accompanied him to follow the officers were fruitless as he was also stopped.
Bobi Wine was then put into a waiting police vehicle at the airport and driven away.
The Ugandan opposition leader had been out of the country on mobilisation tours in Canada and South Africa.
According to the Monitor, NUP secretary general David Rubongoya who spoke to the press said the party still does not know Wine's whereabouts.
Courtesy video recorded at the time of the violent arrest of President @HEBobiwine by the regime operatives at the Entebbe Airport. pic.twitter.com/6edSt0m4mT
— National Unity Platform (@NUP_Ug) October 5, 2023
Bobi Wine started early preparations for the country's next presidential elections with a nationwide mobilisation tour.
The elections scheduled to be held between January 12 and February 9, 2026, are more than two years away but Wine is not taking any chances.
The first phase of the mobilisation tours started on August 28 and will run until September 13 across 10 districts.
"We shall go out to address our people physically and on media houses, and officially open our offices," Wine said in a statement on August 23.
The start of the tours came at the end of a two-day retreat of the National Executive Committee of the National Unity Platform party.
"We had initially planned to be in more than one district on Wednesday and Thursday, but due to public demand that we give a day to each district, we are postponing Soroti and Gulu to the next phase of our tour which will be announced soon," Wine said in a statement.
Wine is likely to face President Yoweri Museveni again in the next elections. At the time Museveni will have been at the helm for exactly 40 years.
His son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who at some point announced his candidacy for the 2026 presidential election, has been thought of by some observers as a possible replacement for his father at the polls.