The First President of Togo Was Born in Kpando

The First President of Togo 🇹🇬 SYLVANUS OLYMPIO (1902-1963)

Sylvanus Epiphanio Olympio was born in the town of Kpando, now a part of Ghana’s Volta region.

Kpando was then part of Trans-Volta Togoland, a German protectorate until France assumed control after World War I. In 1956, the people of this area voted in a referendum under the supervision of the UN to be part of soon-to-be-independent Ghana instead of French Togoland.

Sylvanus Olympio believed that the Ewe people should be reunited under one flag (Togo) but unfortunately he could never come to agreement with Kwame Nkrumah, his Ghanaian counterpart. It was a big rivalry between the two 1st Presidents.

Olympio tried to unite and educate the people about their new nation, and the needs for development. It was said that he used to ride a bike from villages to villages talking to people in their languages and educating them about politics, development, and patriotism, at a time when there was no radio (1950s) in most places.

Sylvanus Olympio barely had a chance to execute anything politically.  He was assassinated in a military coup in the US embassy compound in Lomé in 1963, two years after Togo’s independence. The presidential palace was just next to the US embassy in Lomé.

When Olympio heard gunshots, he sent his family to safety, and climbed the wall that separated him to the American embassy.  Once there, he knocked at the door of the embassy to seek refuge but the embassy was closed.  Sylvanus hid in one of the cars in the American compound. The American Ambassador comes back to the compound and finds Olympio in the car who explains everything; the ambassador claimed not to have the keys to open the door and asked him to wait while he would go find the keys. Rumors says that the American ambassador probably called his French counterpart who then contacted the gunmen and sent them to the American compound.

Sylvanus was found in the car, and gunned by Eyadéma, one of Africa’s worst dictators backed by the West. 

Many wonder what Togo would have become under someone with such love, brilliance, and vision for his country.

#ewepride #togo #togohistory #ewehistory