EXCLUSIVE: Disney singer-turned-presidential candidate is under house arrest and surrounded by regime soldiers - but vows to get out and overturn Uganda's 'rigged' election

A Ugandan singer turned presidential candidate whose work has featured in Disney movies has said he is prepared to die for his country's freedom.

Bobi Wine – real name Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu – is under house arrest following a 'rigged' election that has seen incumbent Yoweri Museveni declare victory.

But Wine says the president has used the army to intimidate voters and told MailOnline that he will try to have the election overturned as soon as he is released.

Photos obtained by MailOnline show his home in Magere, just north of Ugandan capital Kampala, surrounded by soldiers loyal to the regime.

Bobi Wine – real name Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu – is under house arrest following a 'rigged' election that has seen incumbent Yoweri Museveni declare victory

Photos obtained by MailOnline show his home in Magere, just north of Ugandan capital Kampala, surrounded by soldiers loyal to the regime

Wine says the president has used the army to intimidate voters and told MailOnline that he will try to have the election overturned as soon as he is released. Pictured: Soldiers loyal to the regime surround Wine's home

Museveni, 76, had refused to allow election observers into the country in the run-up to the vote and has taken advantage of US turmoil to impose an internet blackout.

In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Wine said: 'No matter what happens to me personally, the most important thing is freedom.

'I want to be free and everything else will come my way. I've said this before and I'll say it again, we are going to get our freedom or we will die trying.'

He added: 'I feel strong, I feel confident but today I feel disappointed like everybody else in Uganda that General Museveni has used force to announce himself winner against the will of the people of Uganda.

'We went to the polls and we clearly won. Right now, I'm under house arrest. The military are here in their hundreds and they have surrounded my house.

'Many of them have jumped over into my compound and they have taken control of my compound. I am unable to leave my house.

'I've tried to leave but I was blocked earlier in the day. But as soon as I'm able to meet up with my team, we are going to guide the nation on the way forward.

'All legal, all constitutional and all non-violent options are on the table, including non-violent protest.'

Soldiers stand at a checkpoint on a street leading to Wine's house in Magere on January 17

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, 76, had refused to allow election observers into the country in the run-up to the vote and has taken advantage of US turmoil to impose an internet blackout. He has since declared victory in a 'rigged' election

Soldiers patrol near the checkpoint leading to Wine's home where he is currently under house arrest

Wine, 38, is an unlikely politician. The son of a nurse, he grew up in poverty in Kampala's Kamwookya slum before going on to study at the country's Makere University.

In the early 2000s, he found fame as an afrobeat singer both alone and as part of a collective called the Ghetto Republic of Uganja.

His biggest hit to date is 2016's Kiwani, which later appeared on the soundtrack of Disney movie, Queen of Katwe.

Wine's singing career has made him wealthy and he is happily married to glamorous wife Barbie, with whom he has four children.

But in 2018, he turned to politics after becoming fed up with the corruption that has blighted Uganda under Museveni's regime and the lack of opportunities for young people.

Wine's singing career has made him wealthy and he is happily married to glamorous wife Barbie , with whom he has four children

First elected to parliament as the independent MP for the northern town of Arua in 2018, Wine now leads an opposition party called People Power, Our Power.

Since becoming a politician, he has been repeatedly arrested – most recently in November – while on December 27, his bodyguard Francis Setenza was killed after being run over by a military police truck.

But Wine says the risks are worth it. He said: 'Thank you for considering my life as important but I know all the 45 million lives in Uganda are just as important as my own.

'I am where I am because I was uplifted by the people, the poor people, the ghetto people and the suffering people. They invested in me and now I want to play a role in uplifting them.

'I know I was a successful artist but riches and success don't mean a thing when you are not free.

'It does not make sense for me to live a comfortable life when the rest of the country is groaning under the yoke of oppression.'

He says he plans to rule as a 'servant-president' if he can overturn Museveni's win and adds his first act as president would be to introduce laws to help the poorest.

Supporters cheer Ugandan presidential candidate Bobi Wine as he departs from his last church service ahead of the presidential elections at Namungoona Orthodox Church in Kampala, Uganda, on 10 January

Bobi Wine says he plans to rule as a 'servant-president' if he can overturn Museveni's win and adds his first act as president would be to introduce laws to help the poorest

He said: 'I want to be able to use the opportunity to help the people who grew up like myself. For example, I want to make sure there's access to quality education and quality healthcare for every Ugandan.

'We want economic development for everyone. We want everyone's dream to be valued and all our children, especially those in the ghettos and rural areas, to know they're valued.

'I want them to know if they dream about being president, they can grow up and do it and they can make it.

'We want to fix the relationship we have with other countries and the international community, and we want to change our reputation – we don't want to be known as a failed country, a failed state. We don't want to be known for dictatorship and poverty.

'We want to be known for being world champions, we want to be known for being good people, for being a democracy, for being a nation that respects the rights of all people.'

To his opponent, he added: 'When Museveni was my age, he said the problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular are leaders overstaying power.

'He wanted to bring change to Uganda and he promised he would only rule for four years and hand over power to a civilian cabinet.

'Now it is over 35 years and he is still not leaving. He won't ever leave his place. I want him to know that ordinary people cannot be oppressed forever.

'It is in his own interests to respect the will of the people of Uganda and if he does not, he will end up in the dustbin of history like all his dictator friends.'