I Can’t Follow Your Emotional & Illegal Directives!! Bobi Wine Mocks Uganda Police After Suspending His Nationwide Mobilization Campaigns

The National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kaygulanyi commonly known as Bobi Wine has vowed to defy what he calls ’emotional and illegal directives’ from the Uganda Police Force.Yesterday, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Maj Gen Geoffrey Katsigazi Tumusiime announced that they had suspended mobilization tours by the Kyagulanyi-led NUP party after the group allegedly disregarded several guidelines.

The police chief also noted that Kyagulanyi used one of the rallies to “incite violence, promote sectarianism, make illegitimate calls for the removal of an elected government, and issuance of defamatory statements against the President.”

While addressing journalists in Kampala, Kyagulanyi said his party did not ask for permission to hold the rallies and that they only notified police. He says police have no mandate to make decisions for registered political parties and that claims about his life being in danger are just excuses to block the party’s countrywide tour.

“As soon as we announced our country-wide mobilization tour, they immediately started talking about terrorism. They were not talking about terrorism when Museveni’s son (Muhoozi Kainerugaba) or Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja were moving around,” Bobi Wine stated, suggesting a double standard in the treatment of political figures.

“They purportedly told us to halt our activities because I was apparently a target of terrorists and they could not protect us, so they wanted us to halt our activities. They claimed that they had received intelligence information that my life was in danger,” Bobi Wine told journalists on Thursday, adding that his life has always been in danger.

The NUP leader has further accused the ruling government of trying to kill him in 2018.

“I want to assure you that we will never obey any illegal and emotional orders,” Kyagulanyi vowed.

NUP’s first phase of the “Wake Up Uganda” tour kicked off on August 28 and was concluded on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.As the situation unfolds, tensions between NUP and the Uganda Police Force are likely to escalate, raising concerns about the impact on the country’s political climate and the upcoming elections.

The clash between law enforcement and political activism continues to raise questions about the boundaries of political expression and the role of security forces in a democratic society.