According to his party, Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine was shot in the leg

Bobi Wine, the head of the main opposition in Uganda and the most powerful rival of veteran President Yoweri Museveni, was shot in the leg on Tuesday by security guards in a northern Kampala suburb, according to his party.

After almost four decades as the president of East Africa, Museveni, defeated Wine, a pop sensation turned politician whose true name is Robert Kyagulanyi, in the 2021 presidential contest.

In an X platform post, Wine’s political party, the National Unity Platform, stated that “Security operatives have made an attempt (on his life)”. “He was shot in the leg and seriously injured.”

Wine was hurt in an incident with the police when they tried to stop him and his group from marching along a road, according to the police. In a statement on X, the police stated that an inquiry would be carried out to ascertain the facts.

“Police officers on site claim he stumbled while getting into his vehicle, causing the injury, whereas Hon. Kyagulanyi and his team assert that he was shot,” according to the police.

Officials from the NUP party assisted Wine in hobbling out of the Najeem Medical Centre in the Bulindo district, according to a video that went viral on social media. Wine was writhing in agony and looked to have a bleeding wound on the shin of his left leg.

“We denounce this horrific deed; an additional attempt on his life. “On the social media site X, NUP party Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya said that “all persons of good conscience must denounce the continuous brutality meted out on individuals who oppose the Museveni administration.”

Human rights advocates and opponents of Museveni’s government have charged it with suppressing the opposition, a charge the president disputes.

On Tuesday, an official from the U.S. State Department informed reporters that Washington was “concerned that violence against opposition voices means the democratic space continues to shrink in Uganda.”

Uganda, a country of 46 million people, has seen a surge in support for Wine among its youth, who were first drawn to him by his ghetto-to-riches narrative and, more recently, by his audacious criticism of Museveni’s administration.