Former presidential candidate and National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, has responded to critics who accused him of abandoning Uganda's democracy struggle after leaving the country following the 2026 General Election.
Speaking to Ugandan journalist Mordecai Muriisa during an interview in the United States, Bobi Wine dismissed the criticism, insisting that choosing to preserve his life was not an act of cowardice.
"We must know that naysayers will always have something to say. Even when you survive, they'll say, 'You recovered, why didn't you become a martyr?' So it is not what the naysayers say that matters, but what we believe in," he said.
Bobi Wine further claimed that Uganda's military and security agencies were actively pursuing him before he managed to leave the country undetected.
"I'm alive today because I was able to outsmart the Ugandan military, beat Museveni and his son at their own game, and I left Uganda intact. Otherwise, I would be dead," he stated.
The opposition leader argued that his departure was a strategic move rather than an abandonment of the struggle, describing it as a "tactical withdrawal."
He cited several historical figures—including Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Ahmed Ben Bella, Julius Nyerere, and President Yoweri Museveni—as examples of leaders who at different times sought refuge abroad before returning to continue their political missions.
Bobi Wine quietly left Uganda after the 2026 General Election and remained out of the public eye for nearly a month before reports confirmed that he had travelled to the United States.