The president of the National Unity Platform, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has announced that he has fled into exile, citing concerns over his personal safety after spending more than two months in hiding in Uganda.
In a message posted on his X account, Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine said security forces had been searching for him but failed to find him because members of the public had shielded him.
“It’s laughable that Uganda’s security apparatus has poured billions of taxpayer shillings into hunting me and still come up empty, because people shielded me. They’ve erected roadblocks everywhere, searching vehicles and pulling over boda-bodas to force passengers to remove helmets causing traffic, all on Museveni’s son’s orders,” Kyagulanyi said.
He also alleged that security operatives had been raiding homes while looking for him.
“They raid homes looking for me. Two days ago, they stormed my assistant Sharif Najja’s house; when they didn’t find either of us, they seized his wife, and she remains missing,” Kyagulanyi added.
Kyagulanyi further claimed that nine police officers who had been assigned to him during the presidential campaign were arrested after they refused to spy on him.
“They were arrested and detained, and now they’ve been dismissed from the police in disgrace, apparently because they wouldn’t help spy on me or prevent me from leaving my house, even though their assignment officially ended on January 15th,” he stated.
Kyagulanyi finished second in the 2026 presidential election with 2,741,238 votes (24.75 per cent) against 7,946,772 votes (71.65 per cent) for the incumbent president, Yoweri Museveni.
However, the NUP leader has continued to claim that the election was rigged and said the government has since targeted him. He alleged that security forces raided his home shortly after the election.
“They raided my home on January 16th, and I managed to escape. A few days later, they returned, assaulted my wife and other family members, vandalized the house, stole valuables, and our home is still occupied and surrounded. That’s why I’ve been hiding and why I’m leaving the country for now,” Kyagulanyi said.
Kyagulanyi said his departure should not be interpreted as surrender but rather as part of a broader strategy to push for political change. He said he plans to engage the international community and push for sanctions against the government of President Museveni and its alleged supporters.
According to him, being abroad will allow him and opposition supporters in the diaspora to organise and strategise further political action.
“In my absence, my deputy president, Dr Lina Zedriga, who was just released from prison, will act as president. Once I finish my work on the international stage, I’ll return to my country and let the regime do what it wants in full view; after all, I committed no crime by running for president,” Kyagulanyi said.
His announcement came a day after documents from a case first filed at Gulu Police Station on March 16, 2026, surfaced on social media. The documents accuse him of making false statements contrary to Section 25(9) of the Penal Code Act.
The leaked documents also led to the remand on Friday of Gloria Grace Laker, an intern at the Gulu High court for allegedly taking a picture of the charges the state is plotting against Kyagulanyi and sharing it online.
The news that Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi) has fled to exile for his personal safety is a tragic but predictable outcome. For decades, Ugandans have dealt with a regime that captured the state through violence in 1986 and has maintained power through a series of fraudulent, violent elections.
The current system is not a democracy; it is an autocracy where the First Family and their inner circle (relatives & tribesmen)—including Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba (CDF), the First Lady (Minister of Education), and Gen. Salim Saleh—exercise absolute control over every key ministry, security organ, and national resource. Under such a militant rule, no candidate can ever truly ‘win’ an election organized by the incumbent.
Kyagulanyi, you have now misled the people twice by participating in these bogus processes. Despite knowing the system is rigged, you encouraged Ugandans to vote, seemingly motivated by the financial benefits and taxpayer-funded positions afforded to the opposition.
It is time for a real stand. You must officially declare that the 2026 elections were a sham, marred by gross irregularities and state sanctioned violence. As a matter of principle, no NUP member should take up an elective position in this illegitimate government. You should now call on the nation to peacefully but firmly resist this autocracy until a true transition is forced, regardless of how long the struggle takes.
Bobi has achieved 80% of his foothold to become the next President of Uganda. It better for him to be out of Sevos prison cells and danger. Bobi won the election by over 70%, Museveni must have got 29%. The next stage for Bobi is to do what David did when King Saul was after him. Saul knew very well that David was God’s anointed one to become the next King, instead King Saul wanted him dead so that his son could become the next King. The outcome we all know! If I were Bobi, I would encourage his boys to stay physically fit and healthy as the next stage requires stamina. Find good professional soldier(s) to train him(Bobi), and others about military skills so that he has inner trusted circles of skilled boys and women. Sevos’s government is like a hollow big tree that looks healthy from the outside, though inside it’s rotten waiting for just little wind/push and it’s gone. Bobi you are fighting a scriptural war attached to Nalubaale. The good news is that I saw those who were celebrating on the “rock” after claiming to have the “rock” drowning, Sevos moved away unhappy, confused and later requested to be head-shaved as a sign of mourning. This is a sign of end of Sevos reign. Bobi you might need to step outside the normal of praying Catholic ways as Sevos knows how to hijack Catholics souls by buying their souls as he donates money and gifts. Bobi pray directly to Christ present your ideas, concerns and Ugandan souls to Christ. There is a might angel(warrior) assigned to the Great Lakes ready to step in.
“No NUP member should take up an elective position in this illegitimate government”. Indeed Remase you have a point. Your statement or advice to one of the opposition leaders of these dodgy political parties of Uganda is very difficult for them to take. They put a lot of their money and life in joining NUP to participate in sham national elections that are commercialised 100 percent. National Democratic elections they knew very well that they are not free and fair and need electoral reforms. To convince them not to go forward with a sham government for many years and counting is an impossibility indeed. One hopes that the young politicians of this country are learning the hard way what it means by Uganda citizens to run away from Uganda from every regime that captures state power in this poor African country!
Kabayeka, History is repeating itself in the most devastating way possible. Just as Kizza Besigye fled to South Africa years ago, Robert Kyagulanyi has now abandoned the country, fleeing for his life after leading millions to believe that this time would finally be different.
When Kyagulanyi first rose to power, he mocked Besigye for losing four times, blaming those failures on a lack of democracy—all while assuring us that he would prove democracy still works through a ‘protest vote.’ Today, that promise lies in ruins. By fleeing, he has not just saved himself; he has severely and perhaps irreparably dented the Ugandan struggle.
The irony is sickening: while Kyagulanyi is safe abroad, his party, the NUP, is eagerly preparing to take up their elective positions and ‘govern’ alongside the very regime they claim rigged the January 2026 election. This isn’t a protest; it’s business as usual. Due to a blatant love for money and status, Kyagulanyi has intentionally refused to call for a boycott of these offices—the only move that would have signaled a true protest.
For 40 years under this autocracy, native Ugandans have fled in search of greener pastures, only to find themselves jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Families have sold their only valuable property to send loved ones abroad into what often becomes modern-day slavery—the tragic ‘Kadamas’ whose stories are filled with regret and suffering.
Kyagulanyi’s exit leaves a nation in total despair, in a position worse than ever before. He leaves behind the families of those killed, the thousands still missing, and those rotting in torture chambers with no hope of ever seeing the light of day. This was supposed to be a revolution; instead, it has become a predictable cycle of sacrifice for the many and survival for the few.
Fellow Ugandans, this struggle has been reduced to a mere survival game for politicians, whether they wear NRM yellow or Opposition red. While the foot soldiers are slaughtered and the youth rot in jail, high-ranking officials like Lewis Rubongoya, the NUP Secretary General, are smiling all the way to the bank. They have turned our desperation into a lucrative career. For them, the ‘struggle’ is no longer about liberation; it is a well-funded business venture where they bank taxpayer money while the nation bleeds.
In other words, Hon Kyagulanyi’s Home now suffer the same fate of that Dr. Kiiza Besigye and especially the homes of the people of Acholi Sub-region between 1986 and 2005.
In 2011, in order to humiliate and desecrate his home: the regime’s repression security apparatus occupied Dr. Besigye’s Home for weeks and months, while urinating and defecation everywhere.
In 1986 until 2005, in order to humiliate and desecrate their homes, when the NRA stormed the homes the people of Acholi and Lango Sub-region the NRA soldiers defecated in our mothers’ cooking pots and urinated in the drinking water pots, as well as that of marwa pots.
That is why and how I find it very difficult to forgive Gen Tibuhaburwa and his pretentious NRA/UPDF/NRM army. The worse part is that he had deployed the Banyarwanda Refugees he had conscripted, like the Fred Rwegyema and Paul Kagame of this world, who had no allegiance to the country or Uganda/ns.
Therefore did not care a damn. Afterall they would later relocate back to Rwanda where Gen Kagame is equally now a Life president.
Wachireba?
Lakwena, you make a valid point. Robert Kyagulanyi’s home is under siege today, just as Dr. Kizza Besigye’s home was for years. Both men share the ‘crime’ of standing against Museveni’s decades-long rule—an act that often attracts treason charges and the threat of a death sentence. Museveni has consistently used violence and rigged elections to maintain power since he took it by violence.
However, there is a clear divide. Kyagulanyi previously criticized Besigye for running four times, yet he led his own supporters into a ‘death trap’ during the recent 2026 elections, despite knowing the likely outcome. While Besigye was abducted in Kenya and remains imprisoned—even after the Supreme Court initially ruled militant trials for civilians unconstitutional—Kyagulanyi’s participation in the ‘bogus’ 2026 election was a move for financial gain rather than true protest. While Gen. Muhoozi issues violent threats against both [to hang Besigye and behead Kyagulanyi], the result remains the same: the regime stays in power while Kyagulanyi/NUP appear to benefit from the very system they claim to fight.