National Unity Platform says opposition presidential candidate seized from his home a day after tense election.
Published On 16 Jan 2026
Uganda’s army has denied claims that opposition leader Bobi Wine was abducted from his home, as vote counting continued in an election marked by violence and an ongoing internet blackout.
Wine said on Friday that security forces had placed him under house arrest. His party later wrote on X that he had been “forcibly taken” from his residence by an army helicopter.
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The military rejected the allegation.
“The rumours of his so-called arrest are baseless and unfounded,” army spokesperson Chris Magezi told AFP in a statement on Saturday. “They are designed to incite his supporters into acts of violence,” he added.
In a report, the AFP news agency said there was calm outside Wine’s residence early on Saturday, but communication disruptions prevented contact with his party.
Wine’s political party on Friday said the opposition presidential candidate was “forcibly” removed from his home and taken to an “unknown destination” in an army helicopter.
Wine, the country’s top opposition figure, had challenged longtime President Yoweri Museveni in an election campaign that the United Nations said was marred by “widespread repression and intimidation”.
Reporting from the Ugandan capital Kampala early on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi said the internet shutdown has made getting information about Wine’s whereabouts difficult.
Soi said a National Unity Platform official contacted by Al Jazeera could only confirm that “men who appeared to be military and other security agents jumped over the fence” of Wine’s home. But the official could not say whether Wine was at home or had been taken away.
Soi added that Al Jazeera has been unable to reach the Ugandan military or the police to confirm what happened.
She noted that shortly after Thursday’s vote, Wine had alleged in a social media post that “massive ballot stuffing” was reported across the country. He had also ca