Obote s chief bodyguard, 81, returns to Uganda from exile with $100
May 14, 2021 Vincent Obodo
Vincent Obodo, the former chief bodyguard of President Apollo Milton Obote returned home, with just $100 (Shs 360,000) after more than 50 years in exile. Obodo, now aged 81, left Uganda in January 1971 after his boss’ administration was toppled by Gen Idi Amin Dada. Obodo, then the head of the VIP protection unit at the president s office was at Kenya s Jomo Kenyatta international airport awaiting Obote s return from Singapore where he had gone to attend a Commonwealth conference when he learned of a military coup in Uganda.
As sporadic gunfire hovered over Kampala and troops ringed parliament and seized the national radio station, post office, the railway station and banks and other strategic positions, Obodo aided Obote’s path from Jomo Kenyatta airport to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where they were welcomed by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere�
A former head of security for late Ugandan President Milton Obote, who was presumed dead, he has returned to home to Uganda after 50 years.
Vincent Obodo, 81, who had once headed the VIP protection unit at the president’s office, was reunited with his two wives and children on Friday.
His relatives had not seen him since January 1971 – when Mr Obote was overthrown in a coup led by Idi Amin.
Family and friends sobbed and cried with joy as Mr Obodo was escorted home by staff from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the privately owned Daily Monitor reports.
Mr Obodo, who had been living in exile in neighbouring Tanzania for the last five decades, told the state-owned New Vision newspaper that he was happy to return.
Daily Monitor
Monday May 10 2021
Vincent Obodo sits between his two wives Josephine Ariamo (right) and Anna Loyce Ideta as the family welcomed him back home in Agora Village, Soroti District, on Friday. Mr Obodo, a former President Milton Obote aide, had been in exile in Tanzania. PHOTO /SIMON PETER EMWAMU
Summary
Ms Ariamo, the elder wife, says they thought their husband was dead because there had never been any communication nor any clue of his whereabouts since 1971.
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Emotions run high in Agora Village in Soroti District on Friday afternoon as two wives were reunited with their husband, assumed dead for the past 51 years.
Milton Obote’s Bodyguard Returns to Uganda After 51 Yrs in Tanzania Vincent Obodo sits between his two wives Josephine Ariamo (right) and Anna Loyce Ideta as the family welcomed him back home in Agora Village, Soroti District, on Friday. Mr Obodo, a former President Milton Obote aide, had been in exile in Tanzania. PHOTO /SIMON PETER EMWAMU
Emotions run high in Agora Village in Soroti District on Friday afternoon as two wives were reunited with their husband, assumed dead for the past 51 years.
Mr Vincent Obodo, the personal overseer of late President Milton Obote’s security and family, went into exile in January 1971 after the late Idi Amin toppled his boss while in Singapore.