Uganda’s main opposition leader Bobi Wine ‘seriously injured’ during police confrontation, his party says

<i>Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP/File via CNN Newsource</i><br/>Bobi Wine arrives at the Green Carpet Fashion Awards on March 6

By CNN Newsource

Published September 3, 2024 2:28 PM

By Sharon Braithwaite, CNN

(CNN) — Uganda’s main opposition leader Bobi Wine has been “seriously injured” in a confrontation with police, his party the National Unity Platform (NUP) said Tuesday.

The NUP said in a post on social media that Wine was shot in the leg in an attempt on his life, just outside the capital Kampala. Local police said however that the injury was caused when the popstar-turned-politician “stumbled while getting into a vehicle.”

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was the main opposition frontrunner in the presidential elections in January 2021 and lost to President Yoweri Museveni. Museveni claimed at the time that he had been re-elected for a sixth term despite widespread allegations of fraud and intimidation.

The NUP said in a post on ‘X’ that Wine was in Bulindo to meet a lawyer when “the police and military … surrounded our vehicles and started firing live bullets, teargas canisters and other projectiles.”

According to the NUP, Wine “was clearly targeted” and shot in the leg.

“Security operatives have made an attempt on the life of President Bobi Wine,” the NUP claimed on ‘X’.

Images posted on his own ‘X’ account show Wine bleeding and lying in a hospital bed, with a bleeding injury on his shin. A statement on his account said he is being treated by doctors after the shooting.

Local police told CNN in a statement that they intervened after Wine’s group blocked the road without permission. Despite being warned not to organize an event in the road, Wine “insisted on proceeding and closing the road, leading to police intervention to prevent the procession,” the police statement said.

“During the ensuing altercation, it is alleged that he sustained injuries. Police officers on site claim he stumbled while getting into his vehicle, causing the injury, whereas Hon. Kyagulanyi and his team assert that he was shot,” the police statement said, adding that an investigation is being conducted.

Wine has faced multiple arrests by Ugandan security forces over the years, particularly in the lead-up to Uganda’s controversial elections. He told CNN in a 2021 interview that he felt his life was in danger.