Bobi Wine Says Police Has Besieged His Hotel, Arrested His Friends

Musician turned politician, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine, says Police is currently surrounding a hotel in Jinja Town, Eastern Uganda, where he was residing ahead of a music show tonight.

He stated in a statement on Facebook that several of his friends have been arrested and that Police is searching to arrest him as well.

“So Police has raided City Hotel in Jinja town where we were resting ahead of the show tonight. They arrested many of our team members. As we speak, the Police is surrounding the entire neighbourhood looking for me everywhere,” Bobi’s statement said in parts.

“What offence? For showing up to perform at a show which they themselves cleared! We arrived in Jinja in broad daylight to a massive and peaceful reception by our friends here,” added the singer.

He further questioned why the Police waited until night to start arresting members of his music group, Firebase Crew.

By press time, our efforts to reach the Police Spokesperson on the matter were futile as he was not picking our phone calls.

Earlier today, Wine posted on Facebook that on Saturday, Police reached out to the organisers and told them that all other musicians slated for the show were to be allowed to perform, except Bobi Wine.

“So a music show was organised in Jinja today with many artistes including myself and it was cleared by Police to take place. Today, the Police called the organisers and told them that all artistes will be allowed to perform except myself. They did not give any reasons, but they were told to choose between their business and Bobi Wine,” the Kyarenga singer wrote.

Nonetheless, he said he had travelled to Jinja with his team and that he would perform at the show since he was paid to perform.

In recent weeks, several of Bobi Wine’s concerts have been cancelled by Police. For each of the concerts, Police said the organizers had not fulfilled the requirements stipulated in the Public Order Management Act.

On December 5, Bobi Wine and a group of lawyers camped at the Police headquarters in Naguru in a bid to meet the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Okoth Ochola over the persistent blocking of his music shows, but with no success.