Bobi Wine and His Wife Released from House Arrest

Bobi Wine and his wife Barbara Itungo Kyagulanyi have reportedly been released from house arrest after the military surrounded their residence almost two weeks ago, Al Jazeera reports. The house arrest began shortly after the highly contested national elections of January 14th which saw the 76-year-old Yoweri Museveni winning a sixth term as president of the country. However, a Ugandan court recently found the opposition figure's house arrest to be "unlawful" which subsequently led to the withdrawal of security forces from his residence, according to The Africa Report.

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READ: Listen to a Podcast Detailing the Life & Times of Iconic Ugandan Activist Bobi Wine

On the fourth day of the house arrest, Bobi Wine's official Instagram account reported that the politician and his wife had run out of food supplies with the latter having been assaulted my members of the military when she attempted to pick food from the garden.

Admittedly, this is neither the first nor the last time that opposition politician Bobi Wine's residence is surrounded or raided by security forces.

Just two days before the national elections, the military raided Bobi Wine's residence while he was being interviewed on Hot 96 FM. His security staff were taken into custody without any grounds for the arrests having been provided by the state. Back in 2019, the residence of the outspoken "ghetto president" and leader of the National Unity Platform (NUP) was surrounded by the military just prior to him notifying the police of a peaceful demonstration he intended to lead against "police brutality, injustice and misuse of authority."

The outcome of Uganda's recent elections saw Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, securing 58.6 percent of the vote while Bobi Wine secured 34.8 percent of the vote, according to Uganda's electoral commission. However, Bobi Wine announced that he would be legally challenging the results of the national elections after alleging voter fraud as a result of the internet shutdown which occurred the day prior to the national elections.