Trinity of terror: Museveni reveals abducted Kenyans put in fridge

A day after Kenyan activists Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo were released from captivity, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni publicly admitted that his government had detained the two activists.

Speaking on a radio talk show at Mbale State Lodge that was televised on the UBC Television in Uganda on Saturday evening, Museveni said the two were arrested based on intelligence reports that they were part of the team of presidential aspirant Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine.

‘‘We have very good intelligence…like for instance, we have got two Kenyans whom we arrested. They have been with us. I have their names, but I don’t remember their names. They came. They were working with Kyagulanyi’s group, but they are experts in riots,” said the Ugandan President.

Museveni dismissively justified the detention as part of his operation against what he termed as external and foreign influence seeking to “sponsor unrest in the region”.

Own groups

“This is done by the enemies of Africa. Even our own groups here, we monitor them with intelligence. Here, of course, we have very good intelligence,” Museveni said.

“So those are the groups sponsoring these children to do bad things. But they are easy to deal with. For us, we have no problem, we dealt with them.”

Museveni boasted of the Ugandan’s military’s counter action ability.

“They have been trying to do it for a long time. So we pick them then after some time, we release them,” he added.

The longest-serving president in Uganda also admitted that Njagi and Oyoo were “put in a fridge for some days” before releasing them, pointing to torture by Ugandan military for the 39 days they held them in detention.

Museveni further revealed that some Kenyan leaders rang him telling him to either jail the two Kenyans or hand them back, confirming that President William Ruto’s government was aware of the unlawful detention but they were reluctant to secure their release.

“They have been in the fridge for some days. Now, some Kenyan leaders rang me and said that I should either put them in jail here or hand them back,” Museveni said.

“They all have connections with foreign countries, foreign groups funding them. What do these foreigners apparently want?” 

The activists reportedly left Kenya on September 29, 2025 to monitor a political campaign rally by Bobi Wine.

Security agents

However, on October 1, 2025, reports emerged that they had been abducted by people believed to be Ugandan security agents at Starbex fuel station in Kireka, Kampala.

At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Njagi revealed that they were abducted and held by the Ugandan military under the Special Forces Command.

“There are things I may have taken for granted but that will not be the case anymore. At this point we do not want to say much because we need medical attention. We are traumatised but happy to be home,” said Oyoo.

He revealed that they were tortured and dehumanised while in detention by the military which is under the leadership of Museveni’s son General Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Responding to a question on whether Ugandans are assured of security after January’s election Museveni said, “Security? Nobody can bring it around here. You go and play those games in other countries but not here. We normally follow all those shallow things. Some of our young people also misinform the foreigners.”

“They think that Uganda is just like I don’t know what. But nobody can disturb our peace. Anybody who does we shall just pick him and that is the end of the story,” Museveni added.

His casual public confession of the prolonged detention of foreigners has ignited diplomatic unease raising questions on respect for international law and Kenya’s capacity to defend its citizens abroad.

Political analysts and human rights defenders argued that the detention of the two Kenyans exposed the foreign policy credibility of President Ruto portraying him as complicit to the violations of the rights of Kenyans across borders.

“William Ruto has not featured very well in these things. He has not been known to be very vocal in defence of Kenyans who are in trouble. Maybe he might have talked to his friend Museveni for relief, to avoid the bad return,” said Macharia Munene, professor of History and International Diplomacy.

Prof Munene added that the confession by Uganda’s head of state signalled mounting international pressure.

 “It appears as if there has been some pressure from somewhere on Museveni. And It’s probably not just from Kenya because it’s an international issue. For Museveni to come out and tell people to release those people, it means he’s under serious pressure because there is no denying that they were there,” said Munene.

The professor further stated that Kenya’s muted response led by President Ruto painted a picture of a government that has failed to defend its citizen.

That silence, he said, has exposed the Ruto as part of the regional authoritarian. “It’s not that Ruto is powerless. They are working together. They are defending their inner link of their own. These are people in power who are defending themselves against their critics,” he added.

On his part, Peter Kagwanja faulted the government particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for failing on its primary mandate.

Kagwanja added that the continued abduction, detention and harassment of Kenyans in Tanzania and Uganda is a loud expression of a government failure to protect its people.

“The primary duty of a nation or of a government is to protect its citizens. The Ruto government has failed disastrously,” Prof Kagwanja said.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been mute. It has totally failed to perform its primary role of protecting the citizens within the borders and outside the border,” he added.

They stated that abduction of the two Kenyans does not only exposes Uganda’s repression but portrays the broader East African pattern of shrinking democratic space.

“There is a coordination among the three leaders on dealing with the dissent in a very ruthless manner” he added.

This coordination, according to Prof. Peter Kagwanja, represents a dangerous trend in East Africa Community which he termed as the regionalization of authoritarianism.

“We are seeing Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania adopting a coordinated approach to suppress dissent. While we integrate our economies, tourism, and transport systems, we are also integrating authoritarianism as a shared political value, at least at the level of leadership,” Prof Kagwanja argued.

According to the analysts, the defiant confession by Museveni and the silence by the government before the release of the two activists deepened the growing sense of disappointment among Kenyans, at home and abroad, who increasingly feel unprotected by their government in the face of blatant rights violations.

For ordinary citizens, Munene stated that the alignment of repression lead to deep consequences among the people.

“If the people cannot appeal to their government for protection, then the government tends to lose legitimacy. And when people in power lose legitimacy, then their tenure becomes very tenuous, very fluid,” he said.

“And unfortunately that’s happening not just in one place, but it seems to be spreading all along. We saw the same thing happen in Madagascar. The president had to fly away to Paris or some other place,” Munene added.

He added that the silence from Ruto’s government could result to erosion of sovereignty which could have deeper consequences.

“Whether people like it or not, we have a new generation of young people who are not bothered with lame excuses. And because they see things going wrong, then they speak up. And they have no memory of how bad things were in Uganda before Museveni. They have no idea. And they may not want to know. And the same thing with Kenya,” he said.

Drawing a parallel between unrest in Tanzania and the events in Uganda, the analysts said president Samia Suluhu and Museveni position themselves as defenders of stability and only attribute the threat of political agitation elsewhere.

“They lock up candidates, stop other parties from participating, and then you blame the neighboring country. Then the leaders don’t mind being blamed because they are very cheap to blame.”

“So when the Tanzanians are beating up on the Kenyans, and there appears to be a loud silence from the officials, it does not make the officials look good. Now, in the community of nations, may not be getting the receptions they were getting before, investors may not be happy to invest in such places,” Munene added.