Bobi Wine: Police stole my presidential nomination papers

The Ugandan politician and musician, Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, has told the BBC that documents needed to secure his nomination to run for president are missing from his offices following a raid by security forces on Wednesday afternoon.

One of the requirements for candidates is to hand in signatures of support from 100 registered voters from at least two-thirds of Uganda’s districts. Bobi Wine says his team had already collected six million signatures but that these are now missing.

“Museveni’s government is trying to block me from nominating as a presidential candidate. From questioning my academic credentials, to questioning my age - now they are making every effort to frustrate my nomination and I want to believe that is why they took the signatures away.”

"We’re not giving up, we have immediately communicated to our branches to ensure they start collecting the signatures immediately and hopefully by Friday we’re going to have the required signatures,” he said

The MP was speaking to the BBC after fleeing his offices when dozens of armed soldiers and police arrived to carry out a search.

He also said 23 million Ugandan shillings ($6,200; £4,800) were taken. He says this money was raised to help pay the electoral fees for party members who wish to stand for parliament.

The police have not responded to the BBC’s requests for comment on Bobi Wine’s allegations. Earlier they denied that the raid was political.

Uganda’s Electoral Commission had given the aspirants an administrative deadline of Friday to hand in the nomination forms.

A spokesperson for the commission says he can’t comment on Bobi Wine’s alleged missing documents but says the deadline can be extended for candidates if they raise the issue with the commission officially.