Pilot Ojiambo refuses to bomb Museveni in 1986

Mission. After the plot to assassinate Museveni was sealed, the mission order was assigned to Flight Captain Stephen Ojiambo and his co-pilot Lt Andama, a gunner from Acholi and the flight technician, writes Faustin Mugabe.

On Wednesday, January 29, 1986, at the veranda of the Parliament Building, President Yoweri Museveni survived death.
This time, however, not only him, but also senior National Resistance Army (NRA) commanders and thousands of soldiers, top National Resistance Movement (NRM) officials, local and foreign dignitaries, would have been murdered in a bomb explosion fired from an enemy helicopter piloted by a captain of the former Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) of the military government which the NRA had four days earlier routed from power in Kampala.

If flight Captain Stephen Ojiambo, flying the Bell Textron helicopter gunship, and his co-pilot Lt Andama had obeyed the orders of their commander, Lt Gen Bazilio Olara Okello, to fire a missile at victorious NRA rebel leader Museveni before or as he took oath, the history of Uganda since January 1986 to-date would have been recorded differently.
Lt Gen Okello, who had been made the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) in the General Tito Okello Lutwa government following the July 27, 1985, coup against president Milton Obote was angry over the January 25, 1986, defeat by NRA fighters in Kampala.

Once he had reached Gulu, he reorganised the remnants of the UNLA, especially those who were from Acholi sub-region, and assembled them in Gulu District in northern Uganda ready to fight the last to-defeat or win battle against the advancing NRA soldiers.
From the Gulu airbase, an infuriated Okello, with the assistance of former Air Force Base Commander, Lt Col Henry Obonyo, planned the mission to assassinate Museveni and his lieutenants who had ousted them from power.

The plan was that if Museveni was killed, the NRA would be demoralised and disintegrate and it would be easy to fight and defeat them. And so, the assassination of the NRA chief commander was the best way to demoralise and disorganise the former rebels.
The UNLA remnants forces had seven of 10 newly acquired helicopter gunships from Defence Systems Limited, a British company as well as the Clareville, a Swiss/Canadian firm which had been training and supporting the UNLA against the NRA rebels during the Luweero war.
This was revealed by an American flight engineer and a helicopter mechanic from New Zealand who were arrested at Entebbe military airfield by the NRA soldiers after the fall of Kampala.

Ojiambo sets off
After the plot to assassinate Museveni was sealed, the mission order was assigned to Flight Captain Stephen Ojiambo who hailed from then Tororo District (now Busia) in eastern Uganda, his co-pilot Lt Andama who hailed from Arua, a gunner from Acholi whose name we could not establish but who was not originally part of the air force, and the flight technician whose name we could not establish.
With 38 side-mounted rockets and heavy machine gun attached on the Bell Textron helicopter gunship, Captain Ojiambo and his crew set off from Gulu at the break of dawn ready to execute the mission once he reached within the target range above the Parliament Building unchallenged.
But after taking off from the airbase, Capt Ojiambo had a second thought about the assigned mission. He judged the magnitude of damage he was about to unleash on his countrymen and women all in attempt to kill one prime target Museveni, and suddenly changed his mind. The crew decided to disobey their commanders’ order and opted to save thousands of innocent lives. The crowd at Parliament on that day was estimated to be more than 10,000!

In his own words, Ojiambo told a British freelance journalist, Ed Hooper, working with the BBC, the Guardian and the Africa Now newspapers the difficult choices he faced. According to the Africa Now magazine of March 1986, Ojiambo was quoted as having said: “We would have blown the whole building [Parliament] apart…many people would have been killed.”
And Hooper writes: “He [Ojiambo] reflects when I met him two weeks later [after January 29, 1986]. Instead, he flies back north to Nakasongola air base and surrenders with his crew at a nearby police post.”

Later, the helicopter was flown from Nakasongola to Kololo airstrip and then to the Nile Mansions (now Serena Hotel) compound in Kampala. When Hooper interviewed Ojiambo, he was staying on the fourth floor of the hotel. Ojiambo was later integrated into the national air force. At the time of his death in early 2000s, he was at the rank of major.
Worth remembering is that shortly after the NRA had captured power, some security experts felt President Museveni was so disposed to a sniper bullet because his security ring often let him exposed, especially when interacting with the public and more so in Kampala.
In his assessment as a journalist, Hooper wrote in the same Africa Now publication about President Museveni’s personal security: “A bullet from a zealot’s gun could disrupt the new order all too easily. Already, NRM officials and even the foreign diplomats have apparently urged the new President to increase personal security precautions.”
He argued: “Given the man’s importance to the continent and the potential threat he represents there, Museveni would surely be well-advised to compromise some.”

Okuku witnessed it all at Parliament
Lieutenant Nelson Okuku (retired) having spied on the UPC government, including president Milton Obote and his lieutenants for some time, abandoned his job as a Star and Ngabo newspaper political reporter and in 1984 joined the rebel ranks.
Okuku, who recently attained a PhD and lives in Sweden, in an interview last week narrated to the Sunday Monitor about the attempted assassination of President Museveni on January 29, 1986, at Parliament.
Okuku was also a former member of the NRA High Command until 1994 when he left Uganda for studies and never returned till 2006. He also has a bullet scar in the right arm which he sustained during the Busega swamp battle.

“Commander Mwesigye saved me. He shouted Nelson don’t go, take cover, don’t move. Everybody was running, crossing a stream. I was next to jump when I had a bullet hit. I think the guy had aimed for my head,” he says.
Okuku was in the famous Mobile Battalion commanded by Salim Saleh which oversaw the security at the Parliament premises. And this is how he recalls it:

“At 09:00 hours, the Parliament [premises] was already filled to capacity by thousands of jubilant Ugandans who came to witness the ceremony. As a people’s army, as many referred to us, we checked everyone who entered the Parliament gate in a disciplined manner.”
“That day marked the first restoration of confidence NRA soldiers showed wananchi in Kampala. We could hear some people talking about our discipline in comparison to former UNLA soldiers who used to harass, beat, kick and even kill them.”

“Indeed, we could see and felt that the wananchi had experienced a sigh of relief on their security and truly, the fundamental change had come and it was not just a mere change of guards.”
He went on: “At around 10:00 hours, Democratic Party leader Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, who had been the minister for Internal Affairs during General Tito Okello regime, arrived. Then former president Godfrey Binaisa also arrived and then Abraham Waliggo – former prime minister during Tito Okello regime – also arrived and many other officials who had served in the Obote and Tito regimes. As these leaders entered the gate of Parliament, we the NRA soldiers saluted them as a sign of respect.”

And he remembers: “Thereafter, came the convoy of the commander of NRA Mobile Battalion Salim Saleh. But surprisingly, he [Saleh] did not go where other dignitaries were seated. Instead, he opted to stand aside near the public about 15 metres on the left side from the main gate of the Parliament [bordering the KCCA premises]. What I noticed was that although the people of Kampala had heard and read about the NRA commander known as Salim Saleh, they did not know him personally.”
“At around 10:30 hours chairman, “Mzee” Museveni, as he was normally called, arrived at the Parliament in a gleaming black Mercedes-Benz car amidst ululation from thousands of jubilant Ugandans who had waited for this moment.”
“I [Okuku] was in military combat but managed to mingle with many local and international journalists who were covering the occasion. Many of them knew me since I had worked with them,” he recalls.

Salim Saleh’s reaction
It seems commander Saleh aka “Rufu” (which means death in Runyankole as was popularly called by his peers in the bush) was the first person to be informed about the attempted assassination of President Yoweri Museveni during the swearing-in ceremony at the Parliament building.
Okuku says: “As the swearing-in programme was going on, I saw Salim Saleh’s military signaller rushing to him with a message book. He [Saleh] read the message. Then I saw his reaction; it was of concern. He then left where he was standing and moved away a bit from the crowd to the gate [northern gate to the KCCA premises].”
“His reaction was a bit disturbing. I was curious and followed him where he stood. I saluted him, he replied [saluted back], then jokingly, asked me in Kiswahili, Okuku namnagani? (Okuku, how are you?).”
I replied fine Afande.
Okuku further narrated: “Then later on, an NRA [soldier] photographer known as Yunus Songolo (RIP) came and told me ‘Nelson, do you know we were about to be bombed?’ I asked him how? I immediately looked at Salim Saleh. He stood quiet and looked straight where the ceremony was being conducted (on the steps of the Parliament).”
“I became inquisitive and demanded to know, who was going to bomb us amidst tight security with the entire Parliament Building cordoned off and above all we had screened wananchi one by one as they entered the gate.”
“I then asked Songolo how he knew of the plot. He told me that he had been told by the signaller that the helicopter was about to bomb us. That is when I realised that the message which commander Saleh had read and then gradually moved to take position where he could monitor everything that was happening.”
Later on when Okuku asked Songolo where the helicopter was, he was told him that it had landed at Nakasongola Airbase and the pilot had surrendered.
“It was a relief to us,” Okuku recalls.

Asked if the NRA soldiers at Parliament had the capacity to shoot down the plane had it come close, he said absolutely not.
“We had no capacity to shoot it down. I am 100 per cent sure we would not have been able to shoot it down. We had no capacity,” Okuku says.
During the interview, Okuku also narrated how the same helicopter piloted by the late Ojiambo had given NRA fighters hard time around Busega, Nabbingo and Nsangi area a week before the fall of Kampala.
Except those who ought to know of the attempted assassination of President Museveni, the rest and especially the public to this day did not know how miraculously they survived the bombing.
However, Okuku narrates: “The following day, which was January 30, 1986, I heard that the helicopter gunship which was supposed to bomb the Parliament was at Kololo airstrip. I went and saw the helicopter and indeed it was still loaded with ammunition.”

“I inquired where the pilot was. But the soldiers guarding were not sure where he had been taken. Since the soldiers were from the Mobile Battalion, I suspected that the pilot must be at Afande Saleh’s place.”
“I knew that Afande Saleh had established his headquarters in one of those homes around Kololo Hill about 20 minutes-walk from the airstrip. I went there in a bid to see the pilot. I was told [by someone he cannot remember] that shortly after commander Saleh had received the message about the helicopter landing at Nakasongola, he dispatched someone with the order to bring the helicopter to Kampala.”
“However, I did not meet Commander Saleh at his home. So I inquired where the helicopter pilot was and I was told that he was at the Nile Mansion (now Kampala Serena Hotel).”

Okuku further recounts: “I went to the Nile Mansion and found him seated outside near the reception, still in his military uniform. I saluted and congratulated him. He was in a jovial mood and willing to talk freely. I introduced myself to him (Ojiambo). I was also in military uniform and we engaged in a discussion. That is when he told me that Gen Bazilio Okello had ordered him from Gulu to come and kill Museveni during the swearing-in ceremony.”
“He explained that he could not carry out the order since they [UNLA] had lost the war. He deemed it that he rather surrenders. And he landed the helicopter at Nakasongola airbase. He made it very clear that the UNLA was fighting a losing battle and saw no need to continue fighting.”

When Okuku asked Ojiambo the whereabouts of Gen Bazilio Okello, Ojiambo sounded unbothered but emphasised that Gen Okello had readied his forces to fight the advancing NRA in northern Uganda.
And indeed when the NRA reached Gulu, they found them ready for the battle. And one of the fiercest battles was fought at Corner Kilak between the forces commanded by Maj Eric Odwar on one side and Fred Rwigyema on the other. In the battle that lasted more than 48 hours, almost non-stop, commander Rwigyema triumphed as Odwar was killed.
Back to the Nile Mansion in Kampala, having seen the would-be assassin Ojiambo, Okuku returned to Radio Uganda which was his assigned command station for the next three months before he left to join the Presidential Press Unit (PPU).

Nonetheless, Okuku recognises pilot Ojiambo’s decision to disobey his commander and said: “I have high regard above all respect for his judgment of disobeying the Lt Gen Okello’s order and his decision to surrender. Otherwise, Lt Gen Okello would have been defeated and died with the bloodbath beyond human history. Thank you, pilot.”
Interestingly, President Museveni does not refer to this incident at all in his book Sowing the Mustard Seed.

Who was Capt Ojiambo?

Stephen Ojiambo joined the armed forces as a cadet on August 12, 1971, and underwent basic military training at the Bombo Training Wing. He thereafter was enlisted into the Basic Pilot Course at Entebbe Airbase.
In mid-1973, he and other air force recruits were sent to the Soviet Union for training. His was on a three-year helicopter piloting course. He returned to Uganda in 1976 but fled shortly afterwards after a section of the air force officers tried to stage a coup against Idi Amin; planning to shoot him at Kibuli Mosque.

He turned in 1979 with the UNLA liberation forces and re-joined the air force, flying several deadly bombing missions in Luweero Triangle against the NRA rebels.
After the aborted bombing of Parliament and his surrender to the NRA, he was reintegrated into the air force where he served until his death in the early 2000s.
His colleague on the mission, Lt Andama, too was reintegrated into the air force. He died in a helicopter crash at Layibi in the 1990s as he flew from Gulu air base to Entebbe.