Nairobi – Ugandan police on Monday denied knowing the whereabouts of two Kenyans who went missing after attending an opposition rally, while their families blamed security forces and called for their immediate release.
Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo went missing last Wednesday after attending a rally for Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine.
“I have not been informed that Uganda police has the Kenyan activists talked about in custody or that they were in Uganda,” police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke told AFP.
“Their relatives should contact the police and make formal notification of those alleged missing persons,” Rusoke added.
The families of Njagi and Oyoo have appealed to a Ugandan court to see them and held a press conference at Amnesty International’s office in Nairobi on Monday to call for their release.
“There have been no formal charges against them, no legal access, no communication with the family or any representative,” said Nobert Ochieng, Oyoo’s brother, reading a statement from the families.
Ugandan authorities denie involvement in the alleged abduction of Kenyan activists Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, who were reportedly seized by armed officers in Kampala.#KTNPrime#KTNAt35@Ashleymazuri@TheJesseRogers pic.twitter.com/pmyDAtojXE
— KTN News (@KTNNewsKE) October 6, 2025
He called on the Ugandan government to disclose their whereabouts, and on the Kenyan government to apply diplomatic pressure to secure their release.
The head of Kenyan rights group VOCAL Africa, Hussein Khalid, said eyewitnesses reported that the two men were taken by “masked, uniformed and armed men, suggesting strong evidence of state involvement in their disappearance.
“It is our suspicion that the two may be detained alongside other Ugandan political detainees in military facilities,” said Khalid.
“Bob and Nicholas represent a generation of young East Africans committed to justice, civic participation and the defence of human rights,” he added.
Dozens of government critics and opposition figures have been abducted in recent years across east Africa, and rights groups allege authorities are failing to protect their own citizens and even working together against activists.
In May, Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire say they were abducted and tortured by security forces in Tanzania, and received little support from their own governments.
Another Ugandan opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, was kidnapped in Kenya last year and smuggled back to Uganda to face trial for treason.
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Source: AFP
