Every morning at precisely 6.00am, Roseline Ochieng sits by the window of her modest home in Seme, Kisumu County, clutching a rosary, her eyes fixed on the gate.
It has been a week since her son, Nicholas Oyoo Ochieng, vanished in Uganda and the waiting is slowly consuming her.
“I still expect him to walk in. I tell myself maybe he lost his phone, maybe he’s on his way home. But the nights are too long. I can’t sleep,” said the 74-year-old mother, her voice weary with sorrow.
Her son is a human rights advocate and the secretary-general of the Free Kenya Movement. He was abducted on October 1, 2025, in Kampala, along with his colleague activist, Bob Njagi.
Free Kenya Movement Chairperson Bob Njagi during an interview at a restaurant in Kitengela town, Kajiado County on May 29, 2025. Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation
According to reports, the two were accosted by armed men and forced into a van after stopping at a petrol station in Kireka, a suburb of Kampala. Since then, there has been no call, no message, no official word at all.
The family says they have reached out to both Kenyan and Ugandan authorities, but the silence remains unbroken. Mr Oyoo’s elder brother, Norbert Ochieng, says, he too, has barely slept since hearing the news.
“I was watching the evening news on TV when they mentioned his name. For a moment, I thought they had made a mistake. Then my phone started ringing. Everyone was calling to ask what had happened. I had no answers,” he recalled.
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Nicholas Oyoo who was was abducted on October 1, 2025 in Kampala alongside his colleague Bob Njagi.
The following morning, Mr Ochieng reported the matter to Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Officials there assured him that they were in touch with their Ugandan counterparts. But a week later, the family says they have not received any substantive update.
“They keep telling us to be patient. But how do you stay calm when your brother is missing in another country?” he said in an interview with the Nation.
For Mr Oyoo’s younger sister, Benter Ochieng, a university student in the United States, the news arrived as a chilling message from home - three words that froze her heart: “Nikko is missing.”
“I was in class. The professor had asked me to show her some of my work, and we both saw the message from my mum: ‘They have abducted Nikko and Bob in Uganda.’ She had tried to call me earlier, but I hadn’t picked up. My professor just looked at me and said, ‘You need to call your mum,’” she recounted.
She went on: “I almost fainted. One of my classmates held my hand and took me straight to the chapel, talking to me the whole time. That’s when I called my mum and reached one of my brothers. My classmate began praying, and I contacted one or two people who immediately started making calls to try and gather more information.”
From thousands of miles away, Ms Ochieng joined the family’s desperate search. She began emailing diplomats, tagging officials online and coordinating a campaign under the hashtag #BringBackNicholasAndBob.
“I’ve tried to stay strong for my mum. But every night, I cry myself to sleep. It’s like living in a nightmare that won’t end,” she said.
Back in Seme, her mother, frail and diabetic, now relies heavily on medication to manage her blood pressure.
“He called me before he travelled and said, ‘Mum, don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.’ Now I don’t know what he’s going through,” said, Roseline clutching her rosary more tightly.
“She barely eats. She just sits there waiting for news that never comes. The silence is killing her more than anything,” said Mr Ochieng.
Mr Oyoo and Mr Njagi had travelled to Kampala to meet with democracy activists and participate in civic engagement workshops.
Eyewitnesses say masked men surrounded their vehicle, confiscated their phones, and forced them into a van. Ugandan police have denied knowledge of the arrests.
Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains that it is in communication with Ugandan authorities, but so far, it has yet to provide any tangible update.
Vocal Africa's Hussein Khalid (left), advocate Abner Collins Mango (center) and other human rights activists during a press briefing on the alleged abduction of Bob Njagi and Nicholas Oyoo in Uganda last week.
The family describes Mr Oyoo as a humble and soft-spoken man, known for his unwavering dedication to justice, integrity and lawful activism.
“As secretary-general of the Free Kenya Movement, he plays a crucial role behind the scenes—drafting formal notifications to authorities and collaborating closely with the organisation’s legal teams to ensure that every activity aligns with the law,” his sister said.
The families of the missing men, through the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), have filed a habeas corpus application in Uganda’s High Court, demanding that the men be presented before a judge. The petition lists Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces, Chief of Defence Intelligence and Security, Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney General as respondents.
The petition, filed by Kiiza and Mugisha Advocates, states that the two men were apprehended by military operatives and are “currently illegally detained at Mbuya, Kampala, in a military detention facility”.
Kenya’s High Commission in Kampala, headed by Dr Joash Maangi, has formally notified Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the disappearance.
