Bobi Wine on Facebook Live.
Bobi Wine, leading presidential candidate in Uganda’s recent presidential election said he was the winner and accused Gen. Yoweri Museveni of treason by launching a military coup, in a Facebook live broadcast.
Bobi Wine, a member of Parliament, whose given name is Robert Kyagulanyi, called on his supporters to “rise up” peacefully in resisting “tyranny.”
He called upon Ugandans to reject Gen. Museveni and not to recognize him as president of Uganda.
Bobi Wine is confined to his home together with his wife Barbie and an 18-month-old niece, under house arrest, surrounded by 500 soldiers. The regime has blocked any exit or entrance into the compound and when the U.S. ambassador, Natalie E. Brown, tried to pay a courtesy visit, she was turned back by soldiers. The couple reported that they were running out of food.
Bobi Wine said he and his advisors have not yet decided whether to challenge in court the “fraudulent” election results announced by Gen. Museveni and his hand-picked Election Commission led by its chairman Simon Byabakama. He pointed out that Uganda’s courts were also stacked with Museveni’s appointees.
Byabakama awarded 59% of the cote to Museveni and 34% to Museveni. An voting App developed by Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) party, with partial results from polling stations from aound the country, showed Bobi Wine leading Gen. Museveni by 73% to 25%.
Bobi Wine has previously called for the international community to support a forensic investigation into the election, which has been rejected by the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Tibor Nagy as “fundamentally flawed.” The U.S. provides Uganda with $1 billion annually in financial and military support.
Bobi Wine has also called for suspension of U.S. military aid to the Museveni regime and for Magnitsky sanctions to be imposed against Gen. Museveni, Gen. Elly Tumwine (Security Minister), Col. Felix Obucha, and Martin Okoth Ochola, the country’s police chief.
Gen. Museveni has ruled Uganda since he seized power in 1986. He has been accused of rigging the last five elections, including the 2016 vote when challenger Dr. Kizza Besigye is widely believed to have won. Bobi Wine is 38 years old and his voter registration drive brought millions of new young voters on the roll, who voted for him. Eighty percent of Uganda’s population is under the age of 35.
Gen. Museveni is officially 76 years old but is believed to be much older.
Editor’s Note: A Petition campaign has been created calling on the Biden administration not to recognize the results announced by the Museveni hand-picked Election Commission.
