Uganda’s opposition leader, Bobi Wine, has described the East African country’s judiciary as compromised and captured, saying he will not contest Thursday’s disputed election results in court.

Mr Wine, in an interview with the BBC on Monday, however, insisted he would not stop standing up to President Yoweri Museveni despite obvious concerns about his safety.

“The judiciary in Uganda is captured, and we encourage Ugandans to invoke any constitutional means to fight back and protect their democracy,” the politician stated. 

Mr Museveni, 81, emerged the winner of Thursday’s election, having polled a total of 72 per cent to defeat Mr Wine, who polled 25 per cent, extending his 40-year grip on power for another five years.

Mr Wine, however, dismissed the results as fake, citing “ballot stuffing” among other irregularities that marred the process.

“We reject those results because they are fake and they don’t in any way reflect the voting pattern. They are completely different from the results in the electoral polling stations and on the declaration forms,” he insisted.

The opposition leader further slammed the security forces for allegedly not allowing food into his family home, where his wife and relatives were under house arrest, adding that more than 100 people had been killed in election violence.

“They jumped off my fence and cut off my electricity and the surveillance cameras. I saw it (was) dangerous for me to stay around,” said Mr Wine, who has not been seen in public for days. “You have heard Museveni’s son promising to harm me. He has promised to harm people. He has delivered it. You have read his recent tweets. That’s why I have to be careful with myself.” 

Meanwhile, the African Union, in its preliminary report, said it was briefed by the opposition political parties on restrictions in accessing campaign venues, unequal access to political parties’ funding, biased media coverage, alleged compromised independence of the electoral body and the judiciary, costly nomination fees, abductions and arrest of opposition figures, among others.