NUP Flag Bearer Nalukoola Narrates Ordeal After His Brutal Arrest

The opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) flag bearer for Kawempe North Member of Parliament by-election, Erias Nalukoola Luyimbazi, has narrated a painful experience he endured this Wednesday after he was brutally arrested by heavily armed security forces.

Nalukoola was aggressively arrested and whisked away by gun-wielding security operatives moving in the infamous Toyota Hiace vehicle commonly known as drone, immediately after he was nominated by the Electoral Commission.

After the nomination exercise, he was surrounded by a group of heavily armed security officers with their faces covered with face masks.

He was manhandled, which left his shirt unbuttoned in the struggle, before being aggressively pounded into a waiting security vehicle.

His desperate pleas for mercy went unanswered as the officers continued their actions with apparent disregard for his distress.

As tensions rose, a growing crowd of his supporters attempted to intervene, expressing outrage over the manner of his arrest.

In response, the security personnel fired shots in the air, dispersing Nalukoola’s angry supporters.

Nalukoola and a handful of NUP supporters were driven straight to Kawempe police station.

After moments at Kawempe police station, Nalukoola was freed without charge.

He narrated what he experienced.

“As I tried to escape from them in the midst of whipping us, I jumped onto a boda boda. Those ruthless people (security operatives) pulled off a boda boda, dragged me on the tarmac until they aggressively pounded me into a waiting drone. At Kawempe police station, they pounded us in one small room and beat us even when there was no possibility of escaping from them,” Nalukoola told reporters after his release.

“They are not professional; they are bad people; they are ruthless. They don’t even deserve to occupy the positions they occupy. They are supposed to be human rights defenders, but they instead violate human rights. Our democracy is in danger,” he added.

Nalukoola’s day began with frustrations.

Before his nomination, he alleged that his agent was kidnapped last night and his original nomination documents stolen.

He said that the missing documents include receipts for paid nomination fees.

“This morning is horrible. What has been done is horrible. But we shall not surrender or abandon the noble cause of promoting democracy in Uganda,” he told reporters.

He accused the government of masterminding the abduction.

The Kawempe North MP seat fell vacant following the death of then-area MP Muhammad Ssegirinya.

Polling Kawempe North Member of Parliament will take place on March 13, 2025.