Trending 
Uganda’s opposition leader Bobi Wine has said he will not challenge the results of last week’s presidential election in court, saying he does not trust the country’s judiciary.
Speaking to the BBC from hiding, Wine said he had chosen instead to call on his supporters to protest peacefully.
“The judiciary in Uganda is captured,” Wine said.
“We encourage Ugandans to use any legal means to fight back and protect their democracy.”
President Yoweri Museveni, 81, was declared the winner of Thursday’s election with 72% of the vote. Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, came second with 25%.
Wine rejected the results, calling them “fake” and alleging ballot stuffing without providing details.
“We reject those results because they are fake, and they don’t in any way reflect the voting pattern. They are completely different from the results in the electoral polling stations and on the declaration forms,” Wine told the BBC.
Museveni accused the opposition of trying to overturn the election through violence, describing them as “terrorists”.
“Some of the opposition are wrong and also terrorists,” Museveni said, insisting that they were working with “foreigners and some homosexual groups.”
He specifically alleged that Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) had planned attacks on polling stations in areas where it was losing support, claims the opposition strongly denies.
Wine said he went into hiding after security forces moved into his home in a suburb of the capital, Kampala, on Friday night. He said his wife and relatives remain there and are not allowed to leave.
“They jumped off my fence and cut off my electricity and the surveillance cameras,” Wine said. “I saw it was dangerous for me to stay around.”
Police claimed the deployment was intended to protect him as a presidential candidate and denied raiding his residence.
Wine also claimed that his family’s access to food had been obstructed by security personnel, saying, “My wife and people are not safe.”
Ugandan authorities have not responded directly to his claims. The Uganda Human Rights Commission said that problems seen on polling day were “technical and procedural” and did not affect the overall fairness of the vote.
Election observers from the African Union said they found “no evidence of ballot stuffing” but criticised the internet shutdown that lasted several days during and after the vote.
In a separate development, Uganda’s army chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is also the president’s son, said on X that security forces had killed 22 opposition supporters during election-related violence.
Kainerugaba also threatened Wine to surrender to the police within 48 hours.
“If he doesn’t, we will treat him as an outlaw/rebel and handle him accordingly,” Kainerugaba wrote.
Wine said in his BBC interview that he fled his home after learning that security forces were planning to “attack” him.
He also said Kainerugaba’s statement added to his fears.
“You have heard Museveni’s son promising to harm me,” he said.
“He has promised to harm people, and… he has delivered to it. You have read his recent tweets. That’s why I have to be careful with myself,” he said.
Although the internet was restored late on Saturday, Wine claimed that signal jammers close to his house prevented him from communicating with his wife.
The police have denied raiding the opposition leader’s home, saying the security deployment was to protect him as a presidential candidate.
“He is not under arrest,” National Police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke told a televised news conference, adding that Wine was at his home and free to move.
