Yusuf Gowon (born Yusuf Mogi; 1936 – 2 February 2024) was a Ugandan military officer who served as chief of staff for the Uganda Army during the dictatorship of Idi Amin. Originally a farmer, Gowon quickly rose through the ranks of the military due to a combination of happenstance and his political skills. Compared with other high-ranking officials of Amin's regime, he was regarded as humane; nevertheless, he was probably involved in some political murders. His appointment as chief of staff was mostly owed to the fact that President Amin regarded him as loyal, not ambitious, and no threat to his own rule. Gowon's lack of talent for tactics and strategy came to the fore when the Uganda–Tanzania War broke out in 1978, and his leadership of the Uganda Army during this conflict was extensively criticised. Many of his comrades and subordinates even blamed him for Uganda's defeat in the conflict with Tanzania. When Amin's regime began collapsing in 1979 and his own soldiers intended to murder him, Gowon fled Uganda.

Gowon subsequently settled in Zaire as a businessman. Unlike many of his former comrades, Gowon did not join any insurgent group during his exile. When the new Ugandan government of Yoweri Museveni offered him to return to his home country in 1994, he accepted and founded a nonprofit organization to help ex-combatants find civilian jobs. He also became head of a veterans association. In 2001, Gowon was arrested and tried for the suspected involvement in the murder of Eliphaz Laki during Amin's rule. The trial generated much publicity and was controversial, as some regarded it as important chance to finally address the crimes of Amin's dictatorship, while others claimed that it was politically motivated. Gowon denied involvement in Laki's murder, and was acquitted due to lack of evidence in 2003.

Gowon was born as Yusuf Mogi in Ladonga, a village in the West Nile Province of the British Uganda Protectorate in 1936. His father Ibrahim was born a Catholic Christian and an ethnic Kakwa, but converted to Islam and adopted a Nubian identity; as a result, Gowon's cheeks were cut with three marks after his birth, signalling him belonging to the Nubians. Though his family was not wealthy, his father was a clan chieftain and owned some farmland. In his youth, Yusuf would help out on his family's farm by looking after its fields, goats and cows. Occasionally, he went hunting with bows and arrows.

Ibrahim could only afford to send one of his children to an Islamic primary school in the provincial capital of Arua; he chose Yusuf. To pay for his son's education, he sold some of his cattle to the disapproval of other clan elders who reminded Ibrahim that the West Nile region was too poor to offer any employment for educated men. Sending Yusuf to school was regarded as wasted money. Yusuf wanted to go to school, however, and convinced his father to pay a few years of tuition. In Arua, Yusuf stayed at the house of a family friend, working on the fields and helping in the household to earn his keep. Arua served as center for the British colonial troops, the King's African Rifles, and many of Yusuf's classmates adored the military. He was an exception in this regard, and showed no interest in military matters at all. His classmates regarded him as sociable prankster who would entertain others with jokes and songs. Yusuf was known for dressing fashionably, thereby earning the nickname "Goan". This was a reference to the city of Goa in India, as the region's best tailors were Indians. Having taken a great liking for the nickname, he eventually adopted it with slight changes as his official last name.

The West Nile Province was a poor region, and offered few occupation opportunities for young men. As a result, most of Gowon's friends joined the King's African Rifles when they finished primary school. In contrast, he opted to attend the junior high school, and subsequently an agricultural college. There, Gowon learned how to drive a tractor, and used his new skills to set up his own farm. This endeavor yielded little monetary gains, so Gowon decided to switch to working on a prison farm producing cotton in 1964. He enjoyed the work, and a British overseer taught him to repair the farm's machinery. Gowon later described this time as the happiest of his life.

Gowon left the prisons service in 1968, and enlisted in the military. This decision partially stemmed from the changed political situation in Uganda. The country had become independent in 1962, and the Ugandan King's African Rifles units had been transformed into the Uganda Army. At the same time, politicians began to conspire and struggle for power, backed by the country's numerous tribal groups. By the late 1960s, the main opposing factions were led by Army chief of staff Idi Amin (mainly supported by the West Nile tribes) and President Milton Obote (mainly backed by the Acholi and Langi). In order to secure the power over the Uganda Army, both launched extensive recruitment drives to enlist as many members of their own respective tribal groups as possible. As a result, military service offered great social and financial rewards which appealed to Gowon despite his disinterest in warfare.

At first, Gowon was sent to a boot camp north of Kampala, Uganda's capital, where Amin was training a new elite unit. Obote considered this new unit a potential threat, however, and ordered its disbandment. As result, Gowon was reassigned to the military police, and later to the paratroopers trained by Israeli experts. At some point after 1969, he was among those sent to Greece for a course in commando tactics. In 1971, Amin launched a coup d'état and installed himself as President, though Obote found refuge in Tanzania. Amin's military dictatorship promptly purged the army of all those who were believed loyal to Obote, including most Acholi and Langi. The vacant leadership positions were then filled with soldiers who were loyal to Amin and usually from the West Nile Province. Gowon returned to Uganda after the coup's conclusion, and was promoted to major and appointed second-in-command of the Simba Battalion, stationed at Mbarara. Another Ugandan ex-officer later commented that Gowon was not prepared for such a promotion, and was just appointed because he belonged to Amin's own tribal group and religion. With the President as his personal patron, Gowon held great power over the Simba Battalion, probably more than the official commanding officer, Colonel Ali Fadhul.

"Some men will themselves to power. Gowon, it seemed, had just happened into it."