By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The president of Uganda Yoweri Museveni has won a sixth term in office, fighting off a challenge by former singer Bobi Wine.
The nation’s electoral commission announced on Saturday that Museveni received 58% of the vote to 34% for Wine, according to The Associated Press.
But Bobi Wine who was just a child when Museveni came into power back in 1986 is alleging that the vote was rigged, as election officials face questions over how results were tallied amid an Internet blackout.
NatureNews gathered that Museveni’s government shut down social media outlets — including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter— in Uganda ahead of the election.
It also sent military vehicles into the streets.
Soldiers and police were out in force in the capital of Kampala on Saturday.
In an interview with Ugandan local media, NPR, Wine said security forces were not allowing anyone in or out of his home, and he urged Ugandans to reject the results.
38 years old Wine sought to replace one of Africa’s longest-tenured leaders with one of its youngest, hoping to make a generational shift that would be felt across the continent.
Born Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, Wine became a pop star with music that blends Afrobeat with sounds borrowed from reggae and dancehall. He then turned toward politics, winning a seat in parliament. Last year, he released a new song and video, in which he urged people to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously.
Museveni responded to Wine’s election challenge by ordering a crackdown that has included numerous detentions of Wine’s .
Museveni recently told NPR that he views pro-Wine demonstrators as “agents of foreign schemes.”
The president also insisted that Wine has been repeatedly arrested not because of his political ideas but “for rioting and causing danger to other people.”