Patricia Apolot, a prominent Ugandan kickboxer and wife of retired Lieutenant General Peter Elwelu, says her husband left their village home for Kampala two weeks ago to spend time in prayer and has not returned since.
According to New Vision, Apolot said her husband’s extended periods of prayer were not unusual, explaining that he sometimes spends one or two weeks praying.
“I told them (army officers that conducted a raid at their home) that my husband left for Kampala two weeks ago, saying he was going to enter into a moment of prayer. This is not new in our home because he sometimes spends a week or even two weeks in prayer,” she said.
Elwelu’s absence comes amid allegations that he is wanted over claims of forming a rebel group. Apolot, who said she married the retired army officer in 2017, has dismissed suggestions that he could be involved in an armed rebellion.
“No, not the man I know, not the man I have lived with,” she said when asked whether she believed her husband could have been involved in forming a rebel group.
She described Elwelu as someone who had long looked forward to retirement and insisted that he had no intention of taking up arms against the government. Elwelu is a former Deputy Chief of Defence Forces.
“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,” Apolot said.
She also recounted a security operation at their home in Awoja, Soroti District, on Sunday at about 7:30 p.m. She said security personnel, some dressed in military uniform and others in civilian clothes, questioned her about her husband’s whereabouts before confiscating her two mobile phones and those belonging to her sisters.
Apolot said she was not physically harmed but claimed that she and others at the home were confined indoors for several days. She said the operation lasted about three hours, after which security personnel remained at the residence and restricted her movements until she was allowed to leave to buy food.
“We have been indoors until today, when I was allowed to come out and buy food,” she said.
Apolot also denied reports that security personnel had recovered guns and ammunition from the home, insisting that no weapons were found there.
She explained that the soldiers who usually guarded them had been sent on leave by Elwelu before he left for Kampala, saying this was his usual practice when he went away to pray.
She further claimed that their other home in Anyara, Kalaki District, had frequently hosted worshippers rather than people involved in rebel activities.
