Uganda’s retired deputy army chief faces mounting rebellion allegations, while his wife insists he is being wrongly accused and fears for his safety!
KAMPALA, Uganda (UGNEWSLINE) – A public dispute over the whereabouts of a retired Ugandan military commander has escalated into allegations of an assassination plot against the country’s army chief, raising fresh questions about the evidence behind claims of a planned rebellion.
Andrew Mwenda, spokesperson for the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), has accused retired Lieutenant General Peter Elwelu of plotting to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni’s government and allegedly using his Christian beliefs to conceal preparations for an armed uprising.
The allegations have intensified a confrontation involving Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who has accused Elwelu of treachery, and announced that he had been stripped of his military ranks and ordered him to surrender to security forces.
Mwenda went further on Thursday, claiming that people he described as members of a militia recruited by Elwelu had said the former general intended to kill Muhoozi and use the assassination to seize power.
“The militia he had recruited have said that in a briefing to them, he said he kills Gen Muhoozi he would be able to take over Uganda,” Mwenda said.
He also claimed that Elwelu was hiding in the Teso region of eastern Uganda.
The allegations have not been independently verified. Mwenda did not publicly present documentary evidence of the alleged assassination plan, while details of the purported recruits’ identities, statements and the circumstances in which they were questioned remain unclear.
On Tuesday, Mwenda accused Elwelu of hiding behind what he called Christian fundamentalism to disguise plans for rebellion.
“Private Elwelu had been hiding behind Christian fundamentalism to disguise his plans for a rebellion against the state,” Mwenda wrote on X.
He added that the retired officer was on the run and that his religious beliefs would not protect him l.
Mwenda’s remarks have introduced a religious dimension to a dispute that has increasingly played out through public statements and social media posts rather than detailed official briefings.
Elwelu was known in his home region for his Christian faith and for broadcasting religious messages on a local radio station, according to residents.
There has been no independently established evidence showing that his religious activities were connected to plans for an armed rebellion.
The accusations have also been accompanied by claims of weapons recoveries and arrests involving former soldiers who served under Elwelu.
Gen Muhoozi said on Tuesday that security forces had recovered arms and ammunition from one of the retired general’s homes and arrested more than 20 former soldiers associated with him.
On Thursday, the army chief announced the arrest of Elwelu’s driver and the seizure of a vehicle he said the retired officer had been using.
Muhoozi did not provide detailed public information about the latest weapons recovery, identify the driver or disclose the charges, if any, against those arrested. The military investigation and its findings have not been fully detailed publicly.
Elwelu’s wife, Patricia Apolot, has rejected the allegations and appealed directly to President Museveni to intervene, arguing that her husband’s record of service should not be overshadowed by accusations that have yet to be established publicly.
“Kindly remember your officer whom you appointed and entrusted with responsibilities. If you still trust Elwelu, then all these allegations against him should not be taken at face value,” she told New Vision in an interview published on Wednesday.
Apolot, a prominent Ugandan kickboxer known as the country’s “kickboxing queen”, said her nine-year marriage had given her no reason to believe that Elwelu intended to take up arms against the government.
“My husband is innocent and cannot, even for a minute, think of starting a rebellion. He loves Uganda, and his dream is to have a peaceful country,” she said.
She also appealed to Muhoozi to reconsider the accusations against her husband, insisting that he had been wrongly targeted.
Apolot said security personnel had repeatedly visited their home in Soroti District over the past two weeks, searching for information about Elwelu.
She said her husband had left for Kampala about two weeks earlier, telling her that he wanted to spend time in prayer.
The family’s account differs sharply from the military leadership’s description of Elwelu as a fugitive suspected of plotting against the state.
A relative told the Daily Monitor that the former deputy army chief had gone into hiding because he feared for his life, claiming that unidentified people had been tracking his movements and that he had begun avoiding public gatherings and even his assigned security detail.
The relative also said security operations had targeted people close to Elwelu, including members of his security team and drivers. These claims have not been fully addressed in a detailed public statement from the military.
The dispute has now drawn in other figures from Teso. Former works minister Musa Ecweru, a senior figure associated with the Arrow Boys, a community defence force formed to resist the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency, has urged Elwelu to surrender to trusted regional leaders who could help negotiate his safety with the government.
Ecweru warned that former fighters could be mobilised to help locate the retired general if he failed to surrender.
His intervention has added to concerns that the dispute could create tension in a region with a history of armed conflict and community-based security mobilisation.
The Arrow Boys were established in 2003 and played a significant role in resisting the LRA in eastern Uganda. Security sources have reportedly been investigating claims that Elwelu sought to mobilise former members of the group, although no publicly available evidence has conclusively established that he was organising a rebellion through those structures.
Elwelu previously served as commander of the UPDF Land Forces and became deputy Chief of Defence Forces in 2021.
President Museveni replaced him in the senior command structure in March 2024, after which he served as a presidential adviser before retiring from active military service in August 2025.
His military career has also been controversial. He commanded troops during the November 2016 operation against the Rwenzururu Kingdom establishment in Kasese, in which more than 100 people were killed.
In 2024, the United States imposed visa restrictions on him over alleged gross human rights violations linked to the operation.
The latest allegations have raised questions about the legal process governing the treatment of a retired senior officer.
The announcement that Elwelu had been “demoted” from Lieutenant General to private has prompted scrutiny because military law provides formal procedures for changes to the rank of commissioned officers.
The full legal basis for the announced demotion has not been publicly established in the reports reviewed.
For now, the central questions remain unanswered: where Elwelu is, what evidence investigators have gathered, whether the alleged recruits have given corroborated accounts and whether any formal charges will be brought.
Mwenda’s claims, Muhoozi’s public accusations and the family’s denials have placed the retired general at the centre of a widening national security controversy.
But the seriousness of the allegations makes independent verification and a clear account of the evidence particularly important.
Apolot says she is willing to cooperate with security agencies and wants Museveni to intervene before the situation deteriorates further. Her appeal places the president at the centre of a dispute involving the military leadership, a former senior commander and competing accounts of a suspected rebellion.
