Fear and outrage continues to grow after Ms. Isabella Njagi, the mother of abducted Kenyan activist Bob Njagi, made a heartfelt plea to Uganda’s First Lady, Janet Museveni, to intervene and help locate her son and fellow activist Nicholas Oyoo, who vanished in Uganda under mysterious circumstances.
The two activists, members of the Free Kenya Movement, were abducted on October 1, 2025, at a petrol station in Kaliro District, Eastern Uganda, by four armed men and a woman dressed in both military and civilian clothing, according to eyewitnesses. They had traveled to Uganda to monitor and participate in the campaign of opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine) ahead of the January 2026 general elections.
In a tearful public appeal, Ms. Njagi said, “My son went to Uganda to support democracy, not to disappear without a trace. I plead with Mama Janet to help bring my boy home alive.”
The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) on Wednesday formally denied holding the two activists, even as mounting evidence points to possible state involvement. Their families and lawyers have since filed a habeas corpus application in Uganda’s High Court, demanding the activists be produced dead or alive. Despite a court order directing Ugandan authorities to present them within seven days, the state has yet to comply.
Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International Kenya, Vocal Africa, and the Law Society of Kenya, have condemned the abductions as part of a wider pattern of cross-border repression and enforced disappearances targeting East African activists. In a joint statement to the Ugandan High Commission, they warned that, “This latest incident represents a dangerous escalation in the shrinking of civic space and criminalization of cross-border activism.”
The disappearance of Njagi and Oyoo mirrors a troubling trend of regional suppression, with previous cases such as Kenyan activist Mwabili Mwagodi’s abduction in Tanzania still unresolved.
