Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, said on Saturday that two Kenyan political activists who went missing last month have been freed after more than five weeks in secret military detention, despite a High Court dismissal of their habeas corpus application.
‘After 39 days under incommunicado detention and torture, our Kenyan brothers Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo have been released at the Kenya-Uganda border at Busia,’ Bobi Wine said in a statement posted Saturday morning.
‘They’re now headed back to Nairobi. I have just spoken to them and they have told me that they were being held by Museveni’s son [Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba] at Kasenyi military barracks,’ he added.
The release comes amid growing scrutiny of relations between Uganda and Kenya over alleged renditions and cross-border detentions.
Bobi Wine, a 2026 presidential candidate and leader of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party, said the two Kenyans were interrogated over their presence at his party’s manifesto launch in Jinja.
‘You can imagine after 39 days!’ he said, accusing Uganda’s judiciary of ‘justifying this criminality, instead of pushing the criminal regime to produce them.’
In Nairobi, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) early Saturday welcomed the release of the two activists, saying it marked ‘an important shift towards upholding the human rights of East Africans anywhere within the East African Community.’
‘We extend our appreciation to their families, Free Kenya Movement colleagues, human rights defenders, journalists, the ministries of foreign affairs in Kenya and Tanzania, and all active citizens who have tirelessly campaigned for this moment,’ Faith Odhiambo, president of the LSK, said in a statement.
She added: ‘We are facilitating their transfer to Nairobi and will give details of their arrival for family, friends and comrades to meet them.’
‘Safe release’
The Kenyan government, through Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia W. Mudavadi, said the release followed ‘sustained diplomatic engagement’ between Kenya and Uganda, including a personal letter addressed to Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Gen Jeje Odongo Abubakhar.
The two governments maintained ‘open and constructive communication that culminated in the safe release of our nationals,’ Mudavadi said.
Bobi Wine described the detention of the Kenyan activisits as further evidence that Uganda is ‘under a complete military dictatorship.’
He added: ‘No wonder this dictatorship is being transplanted in other countries of the region. We all have a duty to free Uganda from this despot and the rest of East Africa will be free.’
‘Welcome back brothers. Pole sana. Aluta continua!’ he concluded.
Ugandan authorities have not issued an official statement on the reported release of the two Kenyans.