National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has warned President Museveni’s government to brace themselves for battle on social media. Bobi Wine made these remarks today during a press conference at the NUP headquarters in Kamwokya.
Bobi Wine started by condemning the rampant abductions which he called a ‘new wave’ of forced disappearances. “Many of us have read about the times of Idi Amin but even what we read is not as bad as what we see. It is very unfortunate that it is happening but it is even more unfortunate that we see a very loud silence from political leaders, Religious leaders and cultural leaders,” he said.
He added, “To you dear religious leaders we believe that God is stronger than any dictator, stronger than Idi Amin and certainly stronger than Museveni. We get disturbed when there is so much silence from our religious leaders.
“Most times when religious leaders talk to us they only encourage us to be calm, to be peaceful but you cannot be at peace when you don’t have your rights.
“So, dear religious leaders, we want to hear more of your voices. To the cultural leaders, our children are abducted and tortured. If you cannot get them for us at least talk about it.”
Bobi Wine further castigated media houses to stop reporting about issues that don’t matter like who fell in love with who but instead report about important issues that benefit the people.
He furthermore revealed that people who are abducted are being taken because of supporting him (Bobi Wine).
“These people are being abducted, tortured and killed simply because they supported me. I am here, I have challenged Museveni, why don’t you arrest me if you think I’m leading criminals other than torturing people who have not committed a crime,” he maintained.
Speaking of an incident where he was arrested in Dubai where he had gone for a charity concert, Bobi Wine noted that the regime in Uganda through the embassy of Uganda said he is a terrorist taking trouble to Dubai and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“Following the so many questions I was asked, the government of Dubai realised that I’m a good person so they released me but because of the extreme pressure from the embassy the concert was cancelled.”
Bobi Wine divulged that the condition for Ugandans living in some Arab countries is terrifying yet every girl who wants to come back just needs an air ticket that is between Shs.700,000 to Shs.800,000.
He propounded, “So if the concert that I had gone to perform in Dubai was allowed to go on, I would be returning with a minimum of 400 of those girls or boys. Unfortunately, the Museveni regime thought those people are better off suffering in that world other than returning home.
“To the girls and boys that are stuck there, I know you will get this message, hang in there brothers and sisters we have not given up on you, Uganda has not given up on you. We are still making every effort to get you home and you will get home.
“To fellow Ugandans wherever you are, we know we can do this as a party, as NUP, we know that even individual citizens that don’t want to publicly associate with us can do something, you can buy one ticket for one girl or one boy or even half a ticket and those that have the funds, top up to bring back our children.
“And for those that don’t have the money, you can contribute by creating awareness. Let this be the issue on everybody’s Facebook and everybody’s Twitter.”
Bobi Wine further emphasized that he has contributed Shs.10m to the cause because he cannot call upon people to contribute when he has not led by example.
WE WERE TWEETED TO A DIPLOMATIC EMBARRASSMENT
Bobi Wine also adduced that they were twitted to a diplomatic embarrassment.
“Museveni’s son disrespected Kenya, therefore, dragging all of us along and as usual Gen. Museveni came up to congratulate him and just after a day of National embarrassment, Gen. Museveni’s son was rewarded with the highest rank in our military.”
He added, “So now you know how Museveni rewards people who misrepresent our country, you know now that all the people that are raping women, all the soldiers that are torturing people are actually being rewarded by Gen. Museveni because according to him that is the right thing to do.
“To our brothers and sisters in Kenya, please bare with us that is what we go through every day but I also want to assert that, that man was not speaking on our behalf, he does not represent us and he is not one of us.”
Bobi Wine intimated that they realised that what hurts the dictator most is Twitter because he is able to see whatever is being posted.
“Yes, we are present on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok but they are more scared of Twitter because all the policymakers are on Twitter. Twitter is much more effective against the dictator. So, I hereby call upon all of you who love Uganda to embrace Twitter. Go on twitter and ‘sabula’ them on twitter.”
He added that now that they know their (government) weakness, they should take on the initiative to tweet non-stop as they create awareness.
