The National Unity Platform (NUP) leader, Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has been arrested upon landing at Entebbe International Airport on Thursday morning, the Opposition party said in a brief statement.
In a video grab of the scene at the airport, the NUP said Bobi Wine was arrested in what they described as a ‘violent manner” by security operatives who disguised as passengers on the plane he travelled in until arrival at the Ugandan Airport.
“..President @HEBobiwine has been violently arrested upon his return to Uganda. We are yet to establish his whereabouts,” read a post with a screengrab on NUP’s official X account on Thursday morning.
Eyewitnesses at the airport reported a heavy military presence as Bobi Wine arrived from an international trip. They say operatives in plain clothes surrounded him and swiftly apprehended him, before driving him away in an undisclosed location.
Earlier on Thursday, NUP in an update on the situation outside the entrance to our offices in Kamwokya said police were deployed heavily, and that “No one is allowed to access the premises, and the staff that had earlier come to carry out party work aren’t allowed to leave.”
Yesterday (Wednesday), Police warned NUP supporters against going ahead with the welcome fete they had planned to receive Bobi Wine from his mobilisation tours in Canada and South Africa.
“The organisers of this welcome back event are advised to stop the mobilisation and members of the public are also advised not to participate in an illegality. Security agencies will make sure that no one engages in illegal possession and whoever will be arrested will be taken to courts of law,” the Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Mr Patrick Onyango said in a Wednesday statement.
The NUP Secretary General, David Lewis Rubongoya in a brief address to the media along the Entebbe Kampala highway said he and other NUP leaders had been blocked from proceeding to Entebbe Airport and they were also yet to take a glance at Bobi Wine jetted in the country this morning.
“He was picked off the plane and driven to an unknown destination. Up to now, we cannot speculate his whereabouts,” Rubongoya said.
However, moments later, police released a statement disputing the allegations of arresting the NUP Leader and said he was instead whisked away from the plane direct to his residence in Magere to avoid a planned procession with his supporters.
“We wish to inform the public that the NUP President, Hon. Kyagulanyi Robert was successfully escorted by our security team from Entebbe to his home in Magere. He reached his home around 11.20am, and is with his family and friends. Disregard rumors of his arrest by propagandists. Meanwhile, business activities and movements along Entebbe road, within Kampala and Gayaza, are flowing smoothly,” police stated.
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