Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine told the BBC he would not contest Thursday’s election results in court, citing a lack of confidence in the judiciary and instead urged his supporters to take to the streets to peacefully protest.
Speaking to the BBC from hiding, he said he will continue to stand by President Yoweri Museveni despite concerns for his safety.
“The Ugandan judiciary has been captured and we encourage Ugandans to use any legal means to fight back and protect their democracy,” the 43-year-old former pop star said.
Museveni, 81, won the vote by a landslide and accused the opposition of seeking to overturn the results through violence, calling them “terrorists”.
He got 72% of the vote while Wine, his closest challenger, got 25%.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, maintained the results were “fake” and cited “ballot stuffing” without giving details.
During his interview, Wine also criticized the security forces for not allowing food in his family home where his wife and relatives were effectively under house arrest. He said he fled home, in a suburb of the capital, Kampala, on Friday night during an attack by security forces.
“We reject those results because they are fake and they do not in any way reflect the voting pattern. They are completely different from the election results at the polling stations and the declaration forms,” Wine told the BBC, speaking from an undisclosed location.
The authorities did not respond to his allegations, but the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) said the “technical and procedural” challenges observed on polling day did not undermine the overall fairness of the vote.
In their report, African Union (AU) election observers said they saw no “evidence of ballot stuffing”, but condemned the days-long internet shutdown – which resumed only hours after President Museveni was declared the winner on Saturday.
After losing to Museveni in 2021, Wine challenged the results but later withdrew the petition, citing what he called the court’s bias and lack of impartiality.
Wine, who lost his presidential bid for the second time, also alleged that there is an ongoing “silent massacre” as political activists are targeted in a crackdown.
In a social media post he said more than 100 people were killed in the election violence – without stating the evidence.
More than 100 youths have been jailed on various charges linked to election-related incidents across Kampala, the Daily Monitor newspaper reported.
In a post on X on MondayUgandan army chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is also President Museveni’s son and his potential successor, said security forces killed 22 opposition supporters during poll-related violence.
Gen Kainerugaba also threatened Wine, giving him “exactly 48 hours to hand himself in to the police”.
“If he is not we will treat him as an outlaw/rebel and handle him accordingly,” he said.
In his BBC interviewWine said he fled his home after learning that security forces were planning to “attack” him.
“They jumped my fence and cut off my electricity and the surveillance cameras. I found it dangerous for me to stay,” said Wine, who has not been seen in public for days.
“You heard Museveni’s son promise to harm me. He promised to harm people and … he delivered it. You read his recent tweets. That’s why I have to take care of myself,” he said.
Although internet was restored on Saturday, Wine said he could not contact his wife because of signal jammers near his home.
Police denied raiding the opposition leader’s home, saying the security deployment was to protect him as a presidential candidate.
Wine continued to call for a “peaceful change” in the regime, saying protests were constitutional rights.
“We encourage Ugandans to awaken in any constitutional way to fight,” he added.
On Tuesday, Donald Muhwezi, a local police chief in Kampala, told local media that police were not worried about Wine’s whereabouts, “as long as he is safe”.
In his victory speech on Sunday, Museveni said his election victory reflected the dominance of his party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Museveni first came to power as a rebel leader in 1986 but since then he has won seven elections.
Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence.