In a landmark ruling that’s sent ripples across East Africa’s activist circles, a Ugandan court orders the release of Kenyan activists Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo, dead or alive, within seven days, issuing a stern habeas corpus directive to the government amid mounting fears over their abduction nearly two weeks ago.
Justice Simon Peter Kinobe of the High Court’s Civil Division handed down the order Tuesday, slamming state security for stonewalling enquiries and demanding the duo’s immediate production in court, a move that’s ignited hope among families while exposing cracks in bilateral ties between Nairobi and Kampala.
The activists, both 30s firebrands from Kenya’s Free Kenya Movement, vanished on October 1 after attending a high-stakes opposition rally in Kampala headlined by Ugandan firebrand Bobi Wine.
Eyewitnesses reported masked men in unmarked vehicles snatching them from a bustling street near the event venue, a brazen grab that human rights watchdogs swiftly pinned on state operatives.
Njagi, a vocal Gen Z organiser known for his anti-corruption TikToks that racked up millions of views during Kenya’s June protests, and Oyoo, his steadfast collaborator in digital campaigns against police brutality, had crossed into Uganda for what they billed as a “solidarity tour” with Wine’s National Unity Platform.
Their joint work, blending Kenyan hustle with Ugandan defiance, had already drawn threats from shadowy figures on both sides of the border. Justice Kinobe didn’t mince words in his chambers ruling, attended by lawyers for the families and reps from Amnesty International Uganda.
“The state’s silence is complicity, this court will not tolerate disappearances in broad daylight,” he declared, setting a hard deadline of October 21 for compliance, with contempt charges looming if ignored.
The order stems from a frantic petition filed last week by the activists’ kin, who trekked from Nairobi’s Eastlands to Kampala’s courts, clutching faded photos and tearful affidavits.
“We’ve buried enough sons in unmarked graves; bring our boys home, breathing or not,” pleaded Njagi’s mother, Esther Wanjiku, outside the courthouse, her voice cracking as supporters chanted “Free the Kenyans!” in a swelling crowd of 200.
Ugandan authorities, tight-lipped as ever under President Yoweri Museveni’s iron-fisted regime, have dodged direct comment, but Interior Ministry sources leaked that the duo is “detained for questioning” at a nondescript military base in Entebbe, fuelling abduction whispers.
Nairobi’s Foreign Affairs PS Korir Sing’oei summoned Uganda’s envoy Monday, demanding “unfettered consular access”.
Kenya’s Gen Z wave, fresh off toppling the Finance Bill, has inspired Ugandan youth to dust off protest placards, but cross-border ops like this abduction signal a chilling clampdown on pan-African dissent.
For Njagi and Oyoo, whose last pinged location was a Kampala cafe swapping protest tips, the stakes are existential. In the corridors of power from State House to Entebbe, this saga shows a harsh truth: activism knows no borders, but neither does repression.
