Ugandan academic cum political activist, Dr Stella Nyanzi, has fled to Nairobi, Kenya.

This was confirmed by her lawyer, Prof George Luchiri Wajackoyah, who cited political persecution by President Yoweri Museveni’s government for the move.

Dr Nyanzi, a former research fellow at Makerere University who ran for Kampala Woman MP Seat in last month’s general election, arrived in Nairobi by bus on Saturday.

Her lawyer, Prof George Luchiri Wajackoyah, in an interview said she is seeking political asylum in Kenya.

“The abductions and detentions of political actors were getting closer to me, my children have been targets of police trailing, I just left prison in February last year and I don’t want to go back,” Dr Nyanzi said in a telephone interview.

She crossed the Uganda-Kenya border “in disguise” to avoid detection by security agents. Her children are also “in a safe house” in Nairobi.

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) candidate came third in the January 14, 2021 parliamentary elections won by National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Shamim Malende.