Deputy Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Lt. Gen. Samuel Okiding has revealed the personal dilemma he faced when he was tasked with tracking down and arresting retired Lt. Gen. Peter Elwelu, describing the assignment as his “worst nightmare” because the two military officers come from the same Iteso community.
Okiding said the operation, which eventually led to Elwelu’s arrest in Soroti on November 2, followed intelligence investigations into alleged rebel recruitment, subversion and illegal possession of firearms in the Teso sub-region.
According to an account published by The New Vision, Okiding disclosed that security investigations began around August and September after intelligence reports indicated that young people in Kapelebyong District were being mobilised under the promise of employment in cement factories in Soroti and Moroto.
Concerned about reports that local youths were being recruited under questionable circumstances, Okiding said he travelled to Kapelebyong to establish what was happening.However, investigators reportedly became suspicious after discovering that the recruits had been transported to Kumi District rather than the locations where they had supposedly been promised employment.
“We became suspicious because Soroti has no cement factory, and the direction in which the youths were taken was different from Moroto. So, I went to a church in Omatenga, where the youths had been taken,” Okiding said.
The church, identified as Ammi in Omatenga Parish, is headed by Rev. Lazarus Odwan. Its leadership reportedly confirmed that 84 young people had been accommodated at the facility, although Pastor Stephen Okaal had introduced them as visitors.
Security personnel subsequently arrested Okaal and some of the youths for questioning.According to Okiding, the recruits told investigators they had been promised monthly salaries of Shs1.8 million, a lunch allowance of Shs15,000 and another Shs10,000 for supper.
He also expressed surprise that most of the youths reportedly had little or no formal education, with some having dropped out of school in Primary Six. It was during the investigations that Elwelu’s name reportedly emerged alongside that of another individual as investigators pursued leads surrounding the alleged recruitment network.
Okiding said President Yoweri Museveni subsequently instructed him to contact the retired general and establish his alleged connection to the activities.However, locating Elwelu proved difficult. His known telephone numbers were switched off, while a visit to his residence yielded no results.His wife reportedly informed the officers that he had left home for prayers approximately two weeks earlier.
Okiding said he spent another two weeks searching across Teso, contacting Elwelu’s associates and seeking assistance from presidential adviser on Teso affairs Charles Elasu, who reportedly said he had not communicated with the former army commander for some time.
The breakthrough eventually came through intelligence networks within Elwelu’s church community.
“Through our networks with some members of his church, we got him and he accepted to meet us. I went and found him and informed him that I had been sent by the President,” Okiding said.
The revelation offers a glimpse into the circumstances surrounding the dramatic arrest of one of Uganda’s most prominent retired military commanders, with Okiding acknowledging the personal difficulty of pursuing a fellow Iteso officer under presidential instructions.
