Two Kenyan activists, Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo of the Free Kenya Movement, are missing after they were reportedly abducted in Kampala on Wednesday afternoon. The two had traveled to Uganda earlier this week and were seen alongside opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine during his campaign rallies in Kamuli and Buyende districts. Videos circulating online show Njagi on stage with Bobi Wine and later moving with his entourage ahead of the 2026 presidential elections.
Witnesses say that at around 3pm on Wednesday, the group had stopped at a petrol station in Kireka to repair their car when a grey van pulled up. Four armed men, along with a woman seated in front, allegedly confronted them. The gunmen are said to have forced Njagi and Oyoo into the vehicle before speeding off, while their phones were immediately switched off. A third activist who was with them was also picked up but later released. “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,” he told reporters on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety.
Bobi Wine condemned the abduction, describing it as an attempt to silence solidarity. “We strongly condemn the abduction by armed operatives, of Kenyan activists and human rights defenders Bob Nyagi and Nicholas Ayoo. The two were picked up mafia-style this afternoon from a petrol station in Kireka and driven off to an unknown destination! We condemn the continuing lawlessness by the rogue regime and demand that these brothers are released unconditionally! The criminal regime apparently abducted them simply for associating with me and expressing solidarity with our cause!” he wrote on X.
Civil society groups in Kenya have also spoken out. Vocal Africa’s Executive Director Hussein Khalid confirmed they are following up with Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Kenyan Embassy in Uganda, while also working with civil society partners in Kampala. “We have been in touch with Kenya’s Foreign Office who have confirmed they are informed about the abduction. They are following up with Kenya’s Embassy in Uganda. We are also in contact with our civil society partners in Uganda who are equally following up to establish the whereabouts of the two,” he said.
The Law Society of Kenya, Vocal Africa and Amnesty International Kenya have jointly written to the Ugandan High Commission in Nairobi demanding disclosure of the activists’ whereabouts, their immediate release, and protection of their rights. “We call on Ugandan authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo and ensure their safety, well-being, release and return to Kenya,” the statement read. They also urged the Kenyan government to actively engage Ugandan authorities to ensure the safe release of its citizens and to prevent cross-border activism from being criminalized or violently suppressed.
For Njagi, this is not the first time he has faced such an ordeal. In August last year, he and two other activists were abducted in Kenya after taking part in protests against economic policies. They were held incommunicado for weeks, tortured, and later released, with Njagi later reporting ongoing surveillance and harassment. The latest incident comes just months after Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi and Ugandan journalist Agather Atuhaire were abducted in Tanzania. Both later said they were tortured and sexually assaulted before being left near their country borders.
The disappearance of Njagi and Oyoo has sparked concern over what rights groups describe as a pattern of enforced disappearances targeting activists and opposition figures in East Africa, raising fresh alarm over shrinking civic space in the region.
