Bobi Wine, Ugandan Opposition Leader, Was Abducted, His Party Says

Mr. Wine’s party said on X that “an army helicopter” had landed in his compound and “forcibly” taken him away ahead of election results in Uganda, during a nationwide internet blackout.Supporters of the opposition leader Bobi Wine in Kampala, Uganda, on Monday.Credit...Luis Tato/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJan. 16, 2026, 6:21 p.m. ETSecurity forces in Uganda abducted the country’s main opposition leader, Bobi Wine, from his home, his party said on Friday, a day before the electoral commission was expected to declare President Yoweri Museveni the winner of a General Election.Mr. Wine’s National Unity Platform party said in a statement on X that “an army helicopter” had landed in Mr. Wine’s compound and “forcibly” taken him away “to an unknown destination.”It was not immediately possible to reach Uganda’s police or Mr. Wine’s party for further details. Uganda is under a nationwide internet blackout after the authorities cut service two days before the General Election on Thursday. Officials said the outage was to ensure security.The effect has been to drastically reduce the information flow available to most Ugandans and to block their ability to communicate via email, social media or WhatsApp, though cellular service remains available.Mr. Wine, a former pop star whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, lives just outside the capital, Kampala. In an interview on Monday in his manicured garden, he hinted that he might lose the election, saying that he feared rigging. He warned that, in the event of a defeat, he would call for protests. He also predicted that the internet would be cut off and that he would be placed under house arrest.“I am hounded everywhere by the police and the military,” Mr. Wine said at the time. “I don’t know where I’m going to be. I don’t know where my fellow leaders are going to be but we know that the people of Uganda will be there.”ImageMr. Wine before voting in Kampala on Thursday. He had warned that should he lose the election, he would call for protests. Credit...Rian Cope/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMr. Wine’s party posted the message about an abduction on social media about 9:50 p.m. local time on Friday. About an hour earlier, it had said that security forces deployed to Mr. Wine’s residence cut off the electricity, plunging the house into darkness, and were attempting to break in. The party said Mr. Wine’s guards had been assaulted.The Ugandan authorities have taken steps to prevent any protests in Kampala, sending thousands of police and military forces into the streets. By late Friday afternoon, few vehicles and pedestrians were on the streets in the city center, and shops had shut.The internet blackout has made it more difficult for opposition supporters to organize in Kampala, where Mr. Wine, 43, is popular with young voters. His electoral challenge rattled the ruling National Resistance Movement party in 2021, but few people gave him a realistic chance of victory this time.For all its youthful energy, Mr. Wine’s campaign has been weakened by defections and a lack of money, and it is running against a governing party embedded in virtually every level of the state.Partial results announced by the electoral commission, whose leaders are selected by the president, have given Mr. Museveni a commanding lead. Final results are expected on Saturday, according to senior officials of the president’s party.Mr. Museveni, 81, has ruled Uganda for four decades since he fought his way to power by leading a rebellion in 1986, and winning the election would give him a further five-year mandate.Most people in the country of around 50 million people have known only one leader, and few if any public officials have served under anyone other than Mr. Museveni.Mr. Museveni argues that during his tenure the economy has grown 17-fold and that he has brought peace and stability. He ran for what would be a seventh term under the slogan “Protecting the Gains.”While Mr. Museveni has dominated the country’s politics, attention has increasingly turned to the question of succession. His son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who leads the country’s armed forces, is viewed as best positioned to take over and has said that he wants the job.ImageCampaign billboards for President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala on Friday. Partial results announced by the electoral commission have given him a commanding lead. Credit...Thomas Mukoya/ReutersMatthew Mpoke Bigg is a London-based reporter on the Live team at The Times, which covers breaking and developing news.SKIP