Nabbi Omukazi on Yiga, relocating to USA, life in prison

The prosecution noted that Pastor Ssemanda between 2017 and March 2019 worked with Jimmy Arinaitwe, the director of Hands across the World Initiative Uganda limited; Pastor Franklin Mondo Mugisha of the Empowerment Christian Center Church International; and others to defraud several people by falsely pretending that their organization (the one led by Arinaitwe) would construct churches for pastors, houses for the needy, offer scholarships (including some from State House) and educate the needy children in the communities from whose parents the monies were collected.

In an interview with YouTuber Flavia Namulindwa, Nabbi said that Ssemanda, who was her friend, having worked together under his Revival Ministries where she played in the band – called her to drive him to Kyaka, a town in Tanzania.

Unbeknownst to her, she said, the pastor was being hunted. The Internal Security Organisation (ISO) nabbed them from the border.

ISO brought them to Central Police Station (CPS) in Kampala after which they were quizzed by the State House Anti-corruption Unit before being taken to Buganda Road Court which remanded her to Kigo Prison. Nabbi was an accessory to the crime.

She said in prison she suffered "mental torture", fell sick, got “injected with fake drugs that almost killed me”, and she also did manual work like splitting firewood with an axe, among others.

Nabbi was accompanied by her sister Bennah Namisinga when they were traveling to Mutula, but the sister was released after making a statement at CPS. While in prison, she said, it was only Pastor Mondo who visited her.

She was sent to prison in December 2020 and released in March 2021.

When she got out, she left for the US.

Relationship with Pastor Yiga

Nabbi Omukazi and Pastor Augustine Yiga dated for some years and did business together.

According to her, she co-founded ABS TV with him.

"I started that TV. I'm the co-founder. Yes, we were two directors,” she said. Maggie Kayima claims Yiga couldn’t speak English and it’s her that convinced him to return to school and complete Primary Seven.

Since his death, Pastor Yiga’s assets have been in contention. Nabbi says she is not among people fighting to get a part of them because he lost most of them. She had previously sued him for Shs700 million she claimed she demanded as a shareholder.

"By the time of his death, most of his property had been lost," Kayima said in the interview.

"The only two things under his name now are the church and the TV station.”

Yiga, who founded Kawala Revival Church, died in 2020.

Nabbi also operated a church in South Africa, which Yiga told her to close after "learning she was planning to get married to a white."

"We had invested over Shs500 million and he told me, shut it down... He was so annoyed,... and the church had good traction. We had a lot of money. We rented choppers. He even bought posh rides using that money," she went on.

Pastor Augustine Yiga did a lot of ‘“crazy’ things to protect her from marrying other men.

For instance, she once dated a white man in Kampala and he sabotaged the relationship. "He told him to leave Uganda or you will die... He feared and left," she said. He also burnt Pastor Ssemanda’s car because of being close to her.

Yiga also had a soft side for her because she had miscarried four times in their relationship. He stopped her from doing any home chores and hired workers for that.

Their relationship started when she was still a teenager.

One other bizarre thing Yiga did was confiscate her birth certificate and university transcript. "He told me he retained them as souvenirs," she said.

Meanwhile, Nabbi said she is looking for a promoter who can match Yiga’s level of commitment to boost her career as she resumes singing.

"I have never met someone that can do what Yiga did for me. I have to get someone better or an equal or someone better... He had spoilt me because he used to do everything," she said.

On September 24, she will hold a concert in Los Angeles, California, US, which will also feature performances from Mesach Semakula and Halima Namakula.