Mothers Mourn Missing Sons
The families of activists Nicholas Oyoo and Bob Njagi, who were taken from the Kireka area of Kampala, Uganda, are becoming more and more anxious as the search for their loved ones drags on.
In a conversation with Nairobileo.co.ke on Tuesday, October 7, Elsie Oyoo-Ojuando, a cousin of Nicholas and a lawyer in Kenya, shared that their mothers are struggling with their health, underscoring the heavy emotional burden caused by the activists’ disappearance.
Elsie mentioned that Nicholas’ elderly mother is finding it particularly hard to deal with the uncertainty about her son’s fate.
“It’s quite bad; Nicholas’ mother is not young; she’s old; she’s 74 and has not appeared in the media at all because her health is failing. She is not in the hospital but very anxious; anything anyone does, she’s like, ‘No, don’t do that because they might kill him.’ She is very anxious and on edge. It has distracted our lives,” she said.
Elsie went on to share that things are even tougher for Njagi’s mother, who is currently in the hospital.
“Njagi’s mother is in the hospital; she was already sick even before he was abducted, and this just made it worse,” she added.
In response to claims that the activists were in Uganda illegally, Elsie firmly rejected those accusations, emphasizing that they were law-abiding individuals who had entered the country through proper channels.
“They are not lawless people; they are very lawful and everything they do is according to the law. There are some people who have been claiming that they were in Uganda illegally. I have seen copies of their passports with valid entry stamps. They went there legitimately, and they were not there to create civil unrest,” she further said.
As the search goes on, Elsie is calling on Ugandan authorities to stick to international human rights standards and make sure that the rights and safety of the activists are fully protected.
“To Ugandan authorities, it is very important to respect human rights. When you think about the human rights declaration in 1948 and all the conventions that have come after that, what we need to see is that people’s lives and freedoms are safeguarded, regardless of where they are. That is what is going to give us peace,” she concluded.
Just a day after the Ugandan Police Force (UPF) refuted claims of abducting Oyoo and Njagi, UPF Spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke addressed the situation on Monday, October 6. He stated that the two Kenyan activists are not in police custody. Rusoke emphasized that if he had any information regarding the two Kenyan nationals, he would have shared it by now.
“The Kenyan activists who are alleged to have come to join in a rally in Uganda and disappeared, I have not been briefed by the police that we have them in our custody.
“At the moment, I don’t have any Information to the effect that they are in police custody. If I had, I would have volunteered it here without any reservations,” he said.
The spokesperson for the UPF mentioned that there haven’t been any official reports suggesting that Oyoo and Njagi are missing persons.
“I also don’t know if it has been reported formally that they are lost persons or missing persons,” he added.
Two activists went missing after traveling to Uganda to support Bobi Wine’s opposition movement in the lead-up to the 2026 presidential elections.
On September 30, they were seen alongside the National Unity Platform leader at campaign rallies in the Buyende and Kamuli districts.
Their troubles began when their vehicle broke down, forcing them to pull over at a fuel station in Kireka for repairs.
Witnesses reported that four armed men surrounded them, forcibly shoved them into a waiting vehicle, and then sped away.
Mothers Mourn Missing Sons
