Not Us, Ugandan Police Deny Holding Missing Kenyan Activists

The Uganda National Police (UNP) has refuted claims that it is holding Kenyan activists Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, saying it has no information on their whereabouts.

Speaking during a press briefing on Monday, UNP Spokesperson ACP Rusoke Kituuma said the police have not received any formal report regarding the activists’ status.

He added that the UNP also has no information on whether Njagi and Oyoo have been reported as missing persons.

“I also do not know whether it has been formally reported that they are lost persons or missing persons; I do not have that information,” he said.

The two activists have not been heard from since Wednesday, October 1, when they were reportedly forced into a van at gunpoint while at a petrol station in Kireka township, just outside Kampala.

Njagi and Oyoo had travelled to Uganda to join National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Bobi Wine’s campaign trail ahead of the 2026 elections.

A witness who was with them at the time of the alleged abduction said four armed men, including a woman in the front seat of a grey van, took Njagi and Oyoo.

The witness, who was also briefly detained but later released, described how the gunmen sped off, and the activists’ phones were switched off immediately.

“I don’t know where Bob is. I don’t know which police station he has been taken to. I honestly don’t know where he is. I’m just stranded here,” the witness said.

The abduction has drawn condemnation from human rights groups and political activists. Kongamano La Mapinduzi (KLM) called for the immediate release of the activists, describing the incident as “a blatant act of repression” and an attack on democracy and political freedom.

“Stop abducting Kenyans! Stop persecuting Africans who stand with progressive struggles like that of Bobi Wine and the people of Uganda,” KLM said in a statement on Monday.

It called for an intervention from the Kenyan government, the East African Community, the African Union and international human rights bodies.

In a communique dated October 3, 2025, the Kenyan High Commission in Kampala confirmed receiving information on the alleged abduction and said it had requested Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to liaise with local authorities to establish the activists’ status.

“Two Kenyan nationals, Mr Bob Njagi and Mr Nicholas Oyoo, were allegedly abducted by armed men around the Kireka area, Kampala, on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, and their whereabouts remain unknown. The Mission requests the Ministry’s assistance in liaising with the relevant authorities to secure their release and safe return to Kenya,” read the communique.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen also noted that the matter is being handled diplomatically.

“It is the duty of the Government of Kenya to protect its citizens in any part of the world,” he said.