Police deny Bobi Wine abduction claims as Yoweri Museveni heads for victory

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.

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.

But the opposition leader has since issued a statement saying he managed to escape during the night raid by the security forces and was no longer at his home, but his wife and other relatives were still under house arrest.

The latest results from Thursday’s election show that President Yoweri Museveni has a commanding lead and is set to extend his 40 years in power.

He has 72% of the vote, with Wine on 24%, based on returns from 94% of polling stations. The final result is expected to be declared later on Saturday.

Wine has condemned the “fake results” and “ballot stuffing” but has not provided any evidence. The authorities have not responded to his allegations.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday morning, police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke said Wine was still in his home and that Wine’s family members were spreading “untrue” and “unfounded” claims.

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.

Overnight Wine’s son, Solomon Kampala, posted updates on social media admitting he was getting conflicting reports about the security situation at his parents’ home.

Difficulty accessing the internet in the country has made it hard to verify information.

Just after midday local time (09:00 GMT), Wine posted a statement on Facebook explaining that it had been “very difficult” at his home in Kampala’s Magere district on Friday night.

“The military and police raided us. They switched off power and cut off some of our CCTV cameras. There were helicopters hovering over.

“I want to confirm that I managed to escape from them. Currently, I am not at home, although my wife and other family members remain under house arrest,” he said, adding that the nationwide internet shutdown had added to speculation about events.

“Given the commotion that happened at our house at night, and given that no-one is allowed to access the house, our neighbours concluded that they had succeeded in abducting us and spread the news.”

The campaign has been marred by violence and on Friday, news emerged that at least seven opposition supporters had been killed overnight on Thursday in disputed circumstances in Butambala, about 55km (35 miles) south-west of the capital.

The US embassy then issued an alert to its citizens because of reports the security forces were “using tear gas and firing into the air to disperse gatherings”.

During Thursday’s vote, voting was delayed by up to four hours in many polling stations around the country as ballot boxes were slow to arrive and biometric machines, used to verify voters’ identity, did not work properly.

Some have linked the problems to the network outage.

Election chief Simon Byabakama said on Friday that the vote counting had not been affected by the internet blackout and the final results would be out before 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Saturday.

President Museveni, 81, is seeking a seventh term in office. He first took power as a rebel leader in 1986.

Wine, a 43-year-old pop star-turned-politician, says he represents the youth in a country where most of the population is aged under 30.

He has promised to tackle corruption and impose sweeping reforms, while Museveni argues he is the sole guarantor of stability and progress in Uganda, a country with a history of conflict.

Although there are six other candidates, the presidential poll is a two-horse race between Museveni and Wine.

The campaign period was marred by the disruption of opposition activities – security forces have been accused of assaulting and detaining Wine’s supporters.

Rusoke, the police spokesperson, dismissed these complaints, accusing opposition supporters of being disruptive.

Internet access was suspended on Tuesday, with Uganda’s Communications Commission saying the blackout was necessary to prevent misinformation, fraud and the incitement of violence – a move condemned by the UN human rights office as “deeply worrying”.