Bobi Wine out of danger, says NUP lawyer

Amid tight security, suspected teargas canister fragments were on Wednesday removed from the left foreleg of recovering opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, through an apparent minor surgery, following the latest violent altercation involving him and armed security officers, authorities said.

Bobi Wine sustained injuries when a teargas canister shot towards him tore through his pants, wounding his leg on Tuesday, during a condemned confrontation with security officers in Wakiso District.

Around Nsambya Hospital, where the former presidential candidate spent the night, close security surveillance and barricaded surroundings welcomed dozens of visitors intending to check on Bobi Wine.

"He is in a very encouraging state. We have also had an interaction with the doctors here and the fragments that went into his legs have since been removed. Good enough, they didn't go or pierce deep into the bones," Kampala Mayor Erias Lukwago, who also belongs to opposition said. 

Citing medical reports, NUP lawyer George Musisi early Wednesday said the popstar turned politician was “stable and out of danger.”

Overnight, NUP spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi said X-ray reports showed “there were some fragments from a teargas canister embedded in Bobi Wine's leg.”

Meanwhile, NUP lawyers and officials are expected at Kira police in attempts to free at least four detainees and three motorbikes seized during the altercation in which Bobi Wine was injured as he returned from a private function at the lawyer’s invitation.

‘Condemned attack’

On Wednesday, veteran opposition strongman Dr Kizza Besigye denounced the “horrible outcome of what, as usual, is totally uncalled for police aggression against political opposition.”

“From Ssenyonyi’s brief, the injuries Kyagulanyi suffered are from the tear ball grenades (usually blue coloured), that police liberally employ as part of persecution- not policing!” he wrote on X (former Twitter).

He added: “We condemn the UPF for its continued rampant abuse of Human Rights.” Former Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Mathias Mpuuga demanded that police “explains this brutal and high-handed attack.”  

Another opposition figure, Ingrid Turinawe said: “Whether it is a bullet or canister or knife or stone or nail!!!! Whatever it is, Bobi Wine or any other Ugandan has the right and freedom to move. This nonsense of tormenting peaceful unarmed civilians must stop!”

According to Musisi, police “continue to act as the armed wing of the ruling party against dissidents who they see as enemies of the government.”

“It is not an isolated incident. Ugandans should also demand that police respect the law,” he told NTV Uganda on Wednesday.

Promising investigations, police spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke last night said on-crime scene police officers claim Bobi Wine stumbled while getting into his vehicle, causing the leg injury whereas Bobi Wine’s team assert that he was shot.

“An investigation will be conducted to clarify the facts,” Rusoke noted in a brief statement.

In 2018, Bobi Wine's bodyguard-driver Yasin Kawuma was shot dead as security officers viciously arrested Bobi Wine in Northern Uganda during parliamentary by election activities. 

Bobi Wine and his supporters had been accused by Ugandan authorities of stoning President Museveni's convoy, which they deny.