Ugandan military chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba said he was praying for fugitive opposition leader Bobi Wine’s death and gave him 48 hours to surrender to the police following a contentious presidential election.
Former pop star Wine said he fled a military raid on his house hours before veteran President Yoweri Museveni was declared the landslide winner of last week’s presidential election.
Wine, who finished runner-up, has alleged widespread fraud during the vote. He has released several statements since Saturday from undisclosed locations.
Kainerugaba, who is Museveni’s son and is widely believed to be his preferred successor, made a series of threats against Wine in posts late on Monday on X, referring to him by the derisive nickname “Kabobi”.
POST-ELECTION VIOLENCE
“I am giving him exactly 48 hours to surrender himself to the Police,” Kainerugaba wrote. “If he doesn’t we will treat him as an outlaw/rebel and handle him accordingly.”
In another post, Kainerugaba said in a reference to Wine’s National Unity Platform party: “We have killed 22 NUP terrorists since last week. I’m praying the 23rd is Kabobi.”
Police spokesperson Kituma Rusoke said on Monday night that Wine was not being sought.
After a tense campaign in which security forces repeatedly opened fire at Wine’s rallies, several incidents of post-election violence were reported. In one, the police killed several opposition supporters in central Uganda in disputed circumstances.
However, fears of the kind of violence that killed hundreds – and possibly thousands – in neighbouring Tanzania after its elections in October did not materialise.
HISTORY OF INFLAMMATORY SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
Kainerugaba, 51, routinely makes inflammatory posts on social media, including a threat in 2022 to invade neighbouring Kenya.
Last year he boasted he had Wine’s bodyguard in his basement and threatened to castrate him. The bodyguard was later charged with robbery.
Kainerugaba has spoken openly about his desire to take over from his father, who has been in power since 1986. Museveni, 81, has denied grooming his son to succeed him.
At least 118 NUP members were charged in court on Monday with election-related offences, including unlawful assembly and conspiracy, court documents showed.
David Rubongoya, the NUP’s secretary general, denied party members were involved in violent activity.
