from HASSAN ONYANGO in Kampala, Uganda
Uganda Bureau
KAMPALA, (CAJ News) – THE opposition alleges it was an assassination attempt on Robert Kyagulanyi, widely known as Bobi Wine, but Ugandan police claim he injured himself during an altercation with law enforcers and military personnel.
Whatever the true version of events is, the East African country is tense again amid fresh accusations longtime leader, Yoweri Museveni, is running the East African country with an iron fist and would maintain this hardline stance ahead of the 2026 elections, which he is likely to contest.
Things got heated on Tuesday evening in the central Wakiso district where Kyagulanyi’s team alleged police had shot him in the leg while returning from a thanksgiving ceremony for lawyer George Musisi.
The camp of the opposition leader-cum-musician alleged the police and military under the command of one Twesigye surrounded their vehicles and started firing live bullets, teargas canisters and other projectiles.
” In the process, our president, Bobi Wine, who was clearly targeted, was shot in the leg,” said an official.
At the time of publishing, the opposition politician was under medical attention at a local hospital.
“This is yet another attempt on the life of our president by the Museveni regime,” said the official.
There was a heavy presence of police outside the Nsambya Hospital where Kyagulanyi was admitted.
The uniformed forces are accused of being partisan, and an appendage of Museveni’s, in crackdowns against his critics and opponents.
Kituuma Risoke, the Uganda Police Force police spokesperson, said officers at the scene denied Kyagulanyi had been shot.
“Police officers on site claim he stumbled while getting into his vehicle, causing the injury, whereas Kyagulanyi and his team assert that he was shot,” Risoke said.
He, nonetheless, said an investigation would be conducted to establish the facts.
Supporters of the opposition leader took to online platforms late on Tuesday to condemn the incident, and protests in the near future cannot be ruled out.
Kyagulanyi, leader of the National Unity Platform, was a major threat to Museveni’s stranglehold on power during the 2021 elections. He secured 35 percent of the vote to the incumbent’s 58.38 percent.
Museveni, 80 later this month, has been in power since 1986, when Kyagulanyi was just four years old.
Critics, including Kyagulanyi, also accuse Museveni of rigging elections.
The younger of the two politicians has been arrested numerous times on different charges since he entered active politics in 2017.
– CAJ News