Former Senior Presidential Press Secretary Joseph Tamale Mirundi has warned government not to rash while dealing with the issue of the embattled Turkey based Ugandan blogger Fred Lumbuye.
During an interview with local YouTube channel-Online Media Uganda on Saturday, Mirundi said even if government arrests, tortures or silences Lumbuye, there will always be another version of him who will also give them (government) headache.
“You can’t just wake up and fight someone who has a following of 120,000 people plus. Such a man is not a fool. In fact, the government is lucky that they have this man. This is now a new wave for those not happy with the government to create other people like Lumbuye because they have discovered that such talks like that of Lumbuye annoy the government,” the controversial political analyst noted.
“…. therefore arresting Lumbuye would mean that his talks are authentic. Government must also inquire from its intelligence who is behind this man and why his message is loved by such big number of people. And the government should be very careful by not handling this issue lightly.Now that you have oppressed people to their bone marrow, they have lost trust in credible people, they are trusting people like Lumbuye, and I don’t think that it’s walk over because I’m sure people who have been sponsoring him are here, therefore they will create millions of Lumbuye. Don’t joke with social media many people have used it to dethrone governments.”
Lumbuye was allegedly arrested in Turkey from where he was broadcasting his hard-hitting youtube videos targeting the government of Uganda and Buganda Kingdom officials.
According to the Observer Newspaper, the blogger was flown back to Uganda on 8 August 2021 but the airport manifest for August 7-8 was allegedly confiscated by Special Forces Command (SFC).
According to security sources, Lumbuye arrived in the country aboard Turkish Airlines, which touched down at Entebbe International Airport on Saturday at around 3 am.
He was held at the police station in the passenger terminal for two hours where he was interrogated and whisked off to Kampala. Multiple security sources say that Lumbuye was escorted by Turkish security operatives who took him through immigration and the police station for clearance.
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