Kyadondo East member of Parliament and Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Opposition Muwada Nkunyingi has confirmed sighting embattled vlogger and government critic Fred Lumbuye in Turkey.
Nkunyingi who claims has been on a fact-finding mission in Turkey since the reports of Lumbuye’s arrest surfaced, now confirms that he has landed on the vlogger following a month’s search all over Turkey.
The Legislator made the confirmation in a Wednesday update on Social Media said Lumbuye is currently under custody at the Koceli Vililigi foreigners’ detention center, in Turkish city of Istanbul.
“He is alive and quite well through bored being in one place. He claims they had told him that he will stay in the detention centre for 6 months,” Nkunyigi said in a post.
According to the Nkunyingi, Lumbuye wishes to secure his freedom and relocate to another country which is not Uganda.
The MP said that Lumbuye is not allowed go speak on phone, write or take photos at the moment, but they were allowed time to talk to him physically, without recording anything.
“The reason they gave is because his detention is monitored by the Turkish government, But they guided us through the lawyers on how to process the details of his wishes,” Nkunyigi said.
Nkunyingi said that they are now in touch with Turkish lawyers, and are set to embark on follow up efforts to help him out of detention.
Nkunyingi’s remarks come at a time when a number of Ugandans and followers of the blogger are wondering where he is.
Government said last month that Lumbuye was in their hands and that he was set to be deported back to Uganda to face charges.
The government Foreign Affairs Minister, Okello Oryem, later backtracked when Lumbuye was not presented, and said that they had done their part.
Several reports had also earlier reported that Lumbuye was being held in Gulu for further questioning, these reports however could not be confirmed by Minister Oryem.
