Uganda’s Chief of Defence Forces,
General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has issued a fresh declaration targeting
opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine.
In a new post, Muhoozi ‘banned’ Bobi
Wine from participating in any elections in the country.
“Whether Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu
is in the country or not, I, as CDF, in the interests of national security and
for the good of the commonwealth, ban him from any further participation in the
electoral exercises of Uganda,” he tweeted.
Earlier in the week, Muhoozi took
several jibes at Bobi Wine, even threatening to kill him, before he deleted the
tweets.
Uganda’s first son had on Monday
issued a public ultimatum to Wine, with 48 hours to surrender to the police.
The message triggered a heated
response from the National Unity Platform (NUP) leader.
In his statement, Muhoozi said he
was “giving [Bobi Wine] exactly 48 hours to surrender himself to the Police,”
adding that failure to do so would lead to him being treated “as an outlaw or
rebel.”
He also said his stance was his own,
noting, “I exonerate my great and venerable father from what I'm going to do to
Kabobi (Bobi Wine).”
Bobi Wine fired back hours later
with a sharp rebuttal, saying the security forces had previously raided his
home, which he said directly harmed him there.
“You ordered the raid on my house to
harm me,” he wrote, arguing that he had “escaped” an alleged attempt to capture
him.
He dismissed claims that authorities
were not pursuing him, saying Muhoozi’s ultimatum contradicted earlier denials.
Bobi Wine further said the security
establishment of serious acts he called “atrocities against Ugandans,” saying
he would “resurface” on his own terms.
“Anyway, I will resurface when I
decide. Then you and your father can do whatever you want to me. But make no
mistake – You will never escape the inevitable consequences of your atrocities
against the people of Uganda. This is our country!” he said.
Bobi Wine had claimed that military and police forces raided his home in Magere overnight,
but he managed to flee, allaying widespread fears that he had been taken
captive and was being held in an unknown location.
The exchange follows the January 15 presidential election in which President Yoweri Museveni, in power for four
decades, was declared the winner with 72 per cent of the vote against Wine’s 25
per cent.
Wine, a former pop star turned
politician, rejected the outcome, alleging widespread rigging and describing
the results as “fake”, achieved through “ballot stuffing.”
“Even at the polling station where
Museveni voted from, the number of people who ‘apparently voted’ from there
exceeds the number of registered voters,” he tweeted on January 18.
In a separate post, he shared a video purporting to show Electoral Commission officials marking ballots in favour of Museveni at a polling station in western Uganda.
