Mr Oduor probably also relied on something else less tangible: a soldier’s natural instinct to smell danger.
The deceased bodyguard saw Mr Odinga handed back and forth by fate between opportunity and risk.
“Danding Cojuangco (an associate of President Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines and the head of San Miguel Corporation) arrived an hour late, escorted by his security team. Coca-Cola had security around Keough, the company president. Members of the two security teams were eyeing one another nervously, since they were all carrying weapons… Imelda Marcos (the first lady and wife to President Marcos) decided to join us at the hotel, arriving a shortwhile later, her security team in tow. Now we had three security teams operating independently… A few minutes later… someone dropped a metal chair on the parquet dance floor. I saw the security guys reaching for guns. Imagined a shootout involving the president of Coca-Cola, the head of San Miguel, and the first lady of the Philippines. The end of my career flashed in front of my eyes. It took a few seconds — it seemed like thirty minutes to me at the time — for the security teams to realise it was only a chair and to put down their weapons. It was a very scary moment”.
These words by Neville Isdell, a former Chief Executive Officer of Coca-Cola, on a 1985 trip to the Philippines, highlight the work bodyguards do and the split-second decisions they make that can mean life or death — with hearts racing, blood pounding in their temples and hands firmly on the triggers of their guns. One of the people who lived this nerve-racking reality was former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s long-time bodyguard, George Oduor, who died on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
