False: Olara Otunnu Did Not Say NUP Would Be Responsible for His UN Secretary-General Loss
Claim
A screenshot shared by Copy News Official on TikTok shows a claim originally published by Tasha7News / The Times of NUP, alleging that Uganda’s candidate for the position of UN Secretary-General, Olara Otunnu, said National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu would be responsible if he failed to secure the position.
The post reads:
“If I don’t win the UN Secretary General post, Kyagulanyi and his NUP will be responsible because NUP abroad overexposed the bad governance of our regime.”
Background:
Olara Otunnu is a Ugandan politician and diplomat who previously served as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict between 1997 and 2005.
In July 2026, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni officially nominated Otunnu as Uganda’s candidate for the position of United Nations Secretary-General.
Otunnu is part of a global pool of candidates seeking to succeed António Guterres, whose term is set to end in December 2026. The selection process is conducted by the UN Security Council and General Assembly, with multiple candidates from different countries participating.
Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, on the other hand, is a prominent opposition figure in Uganda, known for his criticism of the current government and its policies. He leads the National Unity Platform, a political party with significant support both locally and within the Ugandan diaspora.
Evidence
We found no credible news reports, official statements, interviews, speeches, or social media posts showing that Olara Otunnu made the alleged remarks blaming Robert Kyagulanyi or the National Unity Platform for a possible loss in the race for UN Secretary-General.
We first used the Info Verifier tool to search for verified reports relating to the alleged statement, including whether Otunnu had blamed Kyagulanyi or NUP for potentially affecting his candidacy. The search returned no verified reports supporting the claim.
On the contrary, available reports indicate that Kyagulanyi expressed support for Olara Otunnu’s candidacy as reported here and here.
Additionally, concerns have also been raised about the delayed nature of Otunnu’s candidacy. PassBlue reported that Uganda’s nomination of Otunnu was long overdue, noting that he had been considered a potential candidate as early as 1996 but lacked support from his own government at the time.
We also did a keyword Google search about the claim which similarly returned no evidence supporting the claim. Instead the results showed Kyagulanyi rallying the public and international community to support Otunnu’s candidacy.
A Daily Monitor report similarly reported that Kyagulanyi had publicly endorsed Otunnu and urged Ugandans and the international community to support his candidacy.
This does not by itself prove that Otunnu could never criticize Kyagulanyi. However, it provides no basis for the viral claim that Otunnu blamed Kyagulanyi and NUP for a possible failure in his UN Secretary-General bid.
We also conducted a Google reverse image search on the screenshot used in the TikTok post to trace its origin. The search led to a Facebook post. However, we found no original interview, speech, video, statement, or credible news report linking the words in the viral post to Otunnu.
We reviewed the source of the claim and found that the account has a history of sharing misinformation, raising concerns about its credibility as a source of reliable information.
Methodology
We searched the Debunk Info Verifier tool for credible reports or verified statements linking Otunnu to the alleged remarks.
We conducted keyword searches for news reports, interviews, speeches and official statements relating to the claim.
We performed a reverse image search to trace the origin of the viral screenshot.
We reviewed the source of the claim to assess its credibility and history of sharing information and found that it was not a credible source for news content.
Verdict: False
There is no credible evidence that Olara Otunnu made the statement attributed to him claiming that Robert Kyagulanyi and the National Unity Platform would be responsible if he failed to become UN Secretary-General.
Searches for credible news reports, official statements, interviews and speeches produced no record of Otunnu making the alleged remarks. Available reporting instead shows Kyagulanyi publicly supporting Otunnu’s candidacy and rallying Ugandans and the international community behind his bid.
The viral quote is therefore false and unsupported by available evidence.