Musician and political figure Buken Ali, popularly known as Nubian Li, was arrested by police shortly after his nomination for the Nakawa Division Mayor position.
The arrest took place on Tuesday afternoon at the Electoral Commission offices in Ntinda, moments after he had officially been nominated as a candidate in the upcoming local government elections.
According to officials from the National Unity Platform (NUP), Nubian Li was pushed into a police truck and whisked off to an undisclosed location right outside the Electoral Commission offices in Ntinda, a move that has sparked widespread outrage and condemnation from party leaders and supporters alike.
“A short while ago, as he exited the Electoral Commission offices in Ntinda after being nominated for the position of Nakawa Mayor, Ali Buken (Nubian Li) was pushed into a police truck and taken to an unknown location. The fear of the regime is evident. Let’s press on,” said Joel Ssenyonyi, NUP spokesperson.
Nubian Li’s arrest comes just hours after another top NUP official, Deputy Spokesperson Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro, was arrested under similarly vague circumstances outside Kawempe Magistrate’s Court.
NUP describes the incidents not as isolated arrests but as part of an orchestrated campaign to dismantle its political machinery ahead of the crucial 2026 general elections.
“Comrade Nubian Li is the latest victim of the latest wave of arrests and abductions of NUP leaders and supporters. He’s been picked up outside the EC offices, right after his nomination. The impunity continues,” wrote David Lewis Rubongoya, NUP Secretary General, on X.
According to the party, many of its members—those already arrested and others reportedly under surveillance—are being linked to alleged “unlawful military drills” supposedly conducted at NUP headquarters earlier this year. The party has dismissed these claims as fabricated narratives meant to justify political repression.
So far, police have not issued an official statement on the reasons behind the arrests of either Nubian Li or Mufumbiro.
The atmosphere within the NUP is now tense, as a growing number of its leaders and aspiring candidates fear they too could be “picked up” without warning. Several sources within the party told The Observer that campaign plans are being disrupted and candidates intimidated before they even hit the ground.
With the 2026 elections fast approaching, many now fear that Uganda’s democratic process is being quietly eroded, not by lack of participation but by strategic exclusion and fear-based governance.
