Uganda’s opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine has refuted claims of staging protests, says ‘’my party is non-violent’’.
The National Unity Platform party president, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine has refuted claims from the police that he is enticing the public to protest against the outcomes of the January 14 polls.
The just-concluded presidential elections saw Kyagulanyi attain 35.08% of the total votes, losing out to NRM’s Museveni who got 58.38% from 6,042,898 votes.
The results, however, have since brought mixed reactions from very many Ugandans including the NUP leader himself. Kyagulanyi who on Monday petitioned the Supreme Court to order for reelection continues to say that they are ready to do everything possible to ensure that they seek justice.
In one of his recent interviews, the NUP leader assured his supporters that Museveni will be forcefully relieved of his duties as President in less than one year.
With fears that such statements are aimed at sparking a revolution in the country, the police earlier this week issued a strong warning that they will not underlook any statements from the umbrella men.
Major General Paul Lokech the Deputy Inspector General of Police during a Joint Security Briefing on Monday said that they are aware of political groups that are sharing videos on different social media platforms to promote violence.
“We want to inform the public that we are taking these threats seriously and would like to assure them, that they should not be intimidated from going about their lawful businesses, because their security and safety is guaranteed. We have shown Ugandans over and over again that we would have a very peaceful election and indeed it was very peaceful,” part of the deputy IGP’s statement read.
However, while addressing journalists on Tuesday, Kyagulanyi said that his party has not thought of any plans to stage protests despite strong evidence of vote-rigging that was witnessed during the polls.
The NUP president who regarded the claims as baseless said that their party is non-violent. He said that despite all suggestions raised by a section of Ugandans, they have decided to respect the legal means.
“I first heard it from Minister Judith Nabakooba and then Maj.Gen.Lokech. I don’t know about those messages. If anyone is aggrieved, they should seek legal means for redress. As a party, we believe in non-violent means in whatever we do. They are trying to associate them with our party and other political parties but they are baseless,” Kyagulanyi told journalists on Tuesday.
“We want to be remembered as a group of people the pursued every legal redress to letter Z and it is the reason we are going to court.”
