With only weeks left to the official start of campaigns ahead of the 2026 General elections, security operatives from both the police and army have seemingly started off where they stopped in the 2021 elections by allegedly abducting members of the opposition.
The latest high profile opposition figure to be abducted by masked men in the now infamous security owned drones is ex-Jinja City mayoral aspirant, Bobi Giant, real name Tasi Calvin who was forcefully whisked away from Kawempe suburbs to an unknown location.
The move which is deployed by a mixture of the UPDF, SFC, Police and CMI to crack down on opposition supporters mainly from the Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine led National Unity Platform (NUP) during the 2021 elections is seemingly set to be used once again to quell opposition support across the country.
Tasi, who had earlier contested for the NUP flag but gracefully accepted the party’s decision after not securing it and returned back to his civilian body guard duties, had joined Kawempe North MP Luyimbaazi Nalukoola during a visit to Nammere and Tula zones, where locals were raising different concerns to their leaders.
Bobi Giant joins a number of Bobi Wine’s civilian bodyguards who have been abducted by security operatives in drones across the country and they later turn up either in courts of law or dumped in different locations, badly bruised from alleged torture by security operatives.
NUP President Bobi has come out to condemn the country wide abduction of his party members which he has time and again publicly said is aimed at isolating him from people in order to make him a soft target for the regime.
“Yesterday, NUP’s head of Mobilization comrade Buwembo Habib was violently arrested from Mityana district as he conducted a peaceful party activity. The same day, comrade Richard Kavuma (Pastor RK Madogo) was once again grabbed and dragged off the streets of Mbarara city for preaching the NUP message” he said.
Bobi Wine added, “While in Mbale, several NUP leaders including it’s Bugisu Sub-region Coordinator were violently arrested for celebrating their nomination as NUP Flagbearers! All these comrades are currently in detention”.
Kyagulanyi noted that the security agencies actions are not legitimate enforcement of the law but a well-calculated scheme to silence NUP supporters countrywide.
“……While thugs who support the regime are left to roam the streets terrorizing citizens with zero consequences! We call on all Ugandans to speak out against this stinking impunity and condemn the cowardly repression in the strongest Way possible! We also demand the immediate and unconditional release of all our people unjustly detained for supporting us!” Bobi Wine posted on his X handle on Sunday.
NUP Secretary General, Lewis Rubongoya, raised concern over the growing persecution of opposition figures across the county allegedly rising out of fear of the people by the ruling government.
“Police in Katakwi District have arrested four leaders, including Ijonai Juventine, the Toroma County NUP Chairperson, as well as Lima David Livingstone and Aule Stefas who were nominated to run for District Councillor under NUP yesterday” he posted on X.
Rubongoya added, “When our Teso sub-regional coordinator, Okware Jonathan, went to follow up on them, he was also arrested. All of them are being held at Katakwi Central Police Station. The reasons for their arrest are not yet known. Our teams on ground are currently following up, and we hope they, too, will not be arrested”.
The leader of the opposition in Parliament Joel Senyonyi during a confirmation service at Banda Martyrs Church on Saturday condemned the widespread abductions, noting the possibility of Bobi Giant being held and tortured in a basement somewhere.
“I have just been informed that our colleague Bobi Giant has been abducted in Kawempe, we don’t know where he is, we want that to stop, if someone is suspected of committing a crime come and arrest him lawfully and inform his family and lawyers which police station he has been taken to”.
He added, “But we don’t know where he is, he might be in a certain basement being beaten up, may God help us”.
With the Security agencies already starting to brutalise members of the opposition including media personel like photographer Andrew Natumanya, popularly known as Tabz before the general campaigns kick off officially, it remains to be seen how democratic and peaceful the 2026 national elections will be carried out.
