Born in Akokoro in Apac district in 1924, Obote served as prime minister from 1962 to 1966 when he became president until 1971.

He was overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971 but Obote made a comeback and ruled again from 1980 to 1985.

However, he was once again ousted by Gen Tito Okello Lutwa and Maj. Gen. Bazilio Olara Okello. He fled to Zambia where he has lived and vehemently criticised President Yoweri Museveni’s Movement government.

However, Obote’s political career started much earlier while he was still at Mwiri College in the 40s. He joined Makerere University College in 1948 for one year and was expelled after he led a students’ strike.

Obote worked in various capacities, including as a labourer and salesman in Kenya between 1950-55.

In 1957, he was elected to the Legislative Council and became leader of the opposition in 1961 before becoming prime minister the following year. By that time, he was already the leader of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), a position he has held till his death.

In 1960, Obote was awarded an honourary doctorate of law of Long Island University in the US and New Dehli University in India.
He led Uganda, then a British protectorate, to independence in 1962.

The pipe-smoking politician consistently worked his way to the top. At every stage, Obote seemed to have outwitted the tribal and political forces arranged against him.

Obote succeeded largely by diplomacy and persuasion. Obote derived his political skillfulness from a careful study of the people of Uganda.

Obote’s skillfulness was to be exhibited during the London Conference when the Baganda formed a political organisation called Kabaka Yekka. Knowing its possible influence on the political scene, Obote used his fellow northerner, Daudi Ochieng, to negotiate with the Mengo traditionalists. Ochieng, a former schoolmate of Kabaka Muteesa II, had become a Kabaka Yekka MP. He called the talks “bridging the gap.”

Finally, it seemed that a major crisis broke out that the centre could not hold. In 1966, Obote abrogated the constitution, removed all powers from the Kabaka’s government and on May 24, the same year, the Kabaka’s Palace at Mengo hill was attacked, sending the Kabaka into exile and marking the end of a long traditional monarchy unceremoniously.

While attending a Commonwealth Summit Conference in Singapore, Obote was overthrown by his army chief Idi Amin on January 25 1971.

Obote was to stay in exile in Tanzania for eight years until a combined force of Ugandan exiles and the Tanzanian army flushed Amin out.

He became president for the second time on December 15, 1980, after a general election in which his party UPC was declared winner.

Due to alleged election rigging by Obote, several former anti-Amin liberators led by Yoweri Museveni fled to the bushes of Luweero and mounted a guerrilla war against his regime.

As the guerrilla war raged, so did the tribal conflicts in the army between the Acholi and the Langi.

The squabbles climaxed in June 1985 when the Okellos toppled Obote, ending his political legacy.

Obote fled to Nairobi and later to the Zambian capital Lusaka where he wielded enormous power on the UPC.

The Okellos were in turn thrown out by Museveni’s National Resistance Army on January 26, 1986. Although they initially fled, Lutwa returned and died in Uganda.