Security located Bobi Wine but Museveni stopped arrest – reports

President Yoweri Museveni reportedly blocked a plan by Ugandan security agencies to arrest opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, (Bobi Wine), despite intelligence services allegedly determining his location.

Reports indicate that the president was approached with a request from intelligence agencies to proceed and apprehend the NUP leader after they successfully tracked and located him.

The president however, turned down the request, telling them there was no need.

This was revealed by journalist and political commentator Andrew Mwenda during a recent podcast.

Mwenda said security agencies had established where Bobi Wine was hiding but required authorisation from the president before moving in to apprehend him.

“What I know with a high degree of confidence is that the intelligence services were able to establish where Bobi Wine is and they needed permission from the president to go and apprehend him from there and the president said ‘no. leave him’,” Mwenda said.

He added that the information came from what he described as “very reliable sources” within the state security apparatus.

Bobi Wine has been in hiding since 16 January, a day after the election, when he escaped from his home after security forces surrounded the premises.

Since then, the leader of the National Unity Platform has appeared in several recorded messages released online from undisclosed locations.

One of his most prominent appearances was a virtual address to lawmakers at the European Parliament in Brussels on 23 February 2026.

His exact whereabouts still remained unknown, with the opposition leader saying he will only reveal himself when he believes the time is right. Recent reports indicate however, that the NP leader has since left the country and is currently living in the US

Government officials have issued differing accounts regarding the state’s position on Bobi Wine.

The Uganda People’s Defence Forces commander Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has previously indicated that security agencies were actively searching for the opposition leader.

However, Chris Baryomunsi, the Minister of Information and National Guidance, has said the state is not pursuing Bobi Wine and that he has no case to answer.

This week, the National Unity Platform told journalists during a press conference that Bobi Wine is currently still in the country and in good health, though it did not disclose his location.