He was aged 4 when his opponent in today’s Presidential election assumed power. Today, he’s 38 and has seen a humongous history of hell in high definition since he decided to stand for a new Uganda by standing against a perennial despot. Museveni, his opponent today, has been in power since 1986. For today, Museveni, aged 76 and having spent close to four decades in power, deployed all tactics in the handbook of heinousness and villainy to spend at least 5 years more. Museveni has literally ‘killed’ Bobi Wine many times the world has lost count. The attempt on his life since coming out to breach Museveni’s seemingly eternal autocracy has been daily.
His friends, not spared. He buried one recently. Not the first time. His family, not spared. His wife was stripped and arrested harass-somely yesterday. Not the first time. Journalists, not spared. Gagged tightly like a keg of fermenting wine. One was mugged in daylight yesterday. Free speech, not spared. Facebook and Twitter banned. The international community, not spared. The US, like other neutral observers, had to cancel election observation because they were denied accreditation rights.
To understand the extents of evil that have been wrought on Bobi Wine’s spirit, just check Google. Look at him. In all of this omnipresent onslaught on human rights and the rights of Bobi Wine, one thing has stupefied me the most – the deafening silence and undetectable stance of the AU, the African Union. A 76-year old despot ruling like pre-animal Nebuchadnezzar in full glare, stampeding the rights of the people he’s way past serving, and the AU hasn’t at least staged a Presser or issued a statement bordering on the concern? Today, Ugandans go to the polls, and whatever the outcome is, dear Africa, shame is the air you lack.
Read more from Sayo Aluko on his website.
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