Sylvanus Olympio

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Sylvanus Epiphanio Olympio (September 1902 - 13 January 1963) was a Togolese political figure.

He served as the Prime Minister of Togo from 1958 to 1961 when he held elections to consolidate his power. He then served as the first President of Togo between 1961 and 1963 where he became the first president and prime minister of Togo for his first year in office, obtaining the seats in an election that barred Nicolas Grunitzky's party. Some opposition leaders were either jailed in Mango prison or exiled to Ghana and Benin. His "Ablode Sodja" militia, attempted to squash the dissidents. NOTE: THIS NEEDS TO BE VERIFIED.

During his presidency, Olympio pursued a pro-Western foreign policy. At one point, he visited the United States and had a friendly meeting with President John F. Kennedy. Togo maintained friendly relations with most of its neighbors, but relations with neighboring Ghana and its leader Kwame Nkrumah were consistently poor. Each state supported the other's dissidents.

Olympio was assassinated in a military coup d'état on January 13th, exactly one year after he banned political parties and made the tiny territory a one-party and one-man run country. NOT CORRECT: There were political parties, including the Togolese communist party. The coup, considered the first African coup d'état, sent shock waves through Africa but the population seemed relieved as there was not demonstration against the coup leaders. TAKE NOTE: For decades there has been a total revision of Togolese history by the Eyadema people. This is what happens when you have a dictatorship for 40 years. If you keep publishing the fake history for long enough, the rest of the world loses track of the original events. Much of what is written now about those early years of Togo's independence is falsified.

The leader of the coup, Col. Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who later assumed the presidency in 1967 and held it until his death in 2005, claimed to have personally fired the shot which killed Olympio. One legend says Olympio was shot after the U.S. embassy refused to open its gates to let him in, as he sought refuge there fleeing from the band of ex-soldiers from the French army led by Gnassingbé Eyadéma. This is NOT CORRECT: the head of the group of soldiers was Sergeant Emmanuel Bodjollé. Eyadema was not only NOT a Colonel at that time, he was not even a sergeant. He was not the leader of the band of solders either. These facts can be ascertained through documented French military records from that time.

The daughter of the then US ambassador, Leon B. Poullada, gives the following description:

"Olympio was killed late at night. He hid from the ex-French army Togolese mercenary soldiers in a car located in the United States Embassy car-fleet. At that time, the US Embassy offices were next to the Presidential Palace. The US ambassador (my father) and the US Deputy Chief of Mission (who is alive today to tell the true tale) were informed in the middle of the night that soldiers had gone into the Embassy offices compound. My father and the DCM went to the Embassy offices to find out what was going on. My father discovered Olympio in the US Embassy car and tried to save him. He wanted to hide Olympio in sanctuary inside the Embassy buildings. Olympio told him to leave. Olympio told him that the situation was too dangerous. We had no marine guards, or even any armed security, in those far more peaceful times. My father then went to the soldiers and ordered them to clear out from the US government property. They laughed at him and threatened him. It was very touch and go as to whether the soldiers would shoot my father as well. This was one of the worst and most devastating experiences of my father's life in all his years in the US Foreign Service. My father deeply admired and even loved Olympio. Throughout the remainder of my growing up, a very large black framed photo portrait of President Olympio hung in the hall of our house, and it is hanging in the hall of my mother's house to this day."

His son, Gilchrist Olympio, is currently the most prominent opposition leader in Togo.

He was succeeded by Emmanuel Bodjollé, head of an "Insurrection Committee" that ruled for only two days after which Nicolas Grunitzky was put in charge.

Preceded by Nicolas Grunitzky	Prime Minister of Togo 1958–1961	Succeeded by Joseph Kokou Koffigoh
Preceded by (none)	President of Togo 1960–1963	Succeeded by Emmanuel Bodjollé

Heads of state of Togo
Sylvanus Olympio • Emmanuel Bodjollé • Nicolas Grunitzky • Kléber Dadjo • Gnassingbé Eyadéma • Faure Gnassingbé • Bonfoh Abbass† • Faure Gnassingbé † interim