Gilchrist Olympio

Who is Gilchrist Olympio?

Gilchrist Olympio is a Togolese politician and the President of the Union of Forces for Change, the country's main opposition party. Since the late 1970s, Mr. Olympio gained notoriety as a charismatic West African political thought leader, because of his courageous and outspoken opposition to the brutal regime of late president General Gnassingbe Eyadema in Togo. Mr. Olympio is also the son the first elected president of Togo and father of the small country's independence movement, former President Sylvanus Olympio, who was assassinated in a 1963 coup led by Gnassingbe Eyadema. Gilchrist Olympio and his family lived in exile from the mid-60s to the early 2000s, but has now returned to Togo.