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Jared Odek Ochoko, a Robin Hood type fellow who dressed in flowing royal blue robes and carried a wooden cross, waxed lyrical about his religion, Legio Maria, whenever he made his characteristic fleeting public appearances in Nairobi’s Eastlands.
But despite his distinctive religious attire and his towering figure, Ochoko’s (popularly known as Ochok) stock-in-trade was something less reverent. The passionate and aggressive land dealer and real estate investor who ‘forced’ his way to navigate Nairobi’s urban jungle, was shot dead by unknown assailants in broad daylight along Manyanja Road in Tena estate on October 4, 2014.
Ochok, an ardent Legio Maria follower, was accused of grabbing and selling land in Njiru and Chokaa areas where he led a ruthless gang of youth who referred to him as ‘patron.’
The flamboyant but secretive operative had managed to compromise police, the provincial administration, as well as land and court officials who received frequent complaints, but could do nothing because they drunk and dined with the generous land dealer.
The man had constantly received death threats from either members of rival gangs or people claiming their land had been grabbed. But he was least bothered since he had gotten used to such intimidation from 2002 when he plunged into the lucrative land business in Embakasi.
His killers trailed him as he was being driven to the city centre before spraying his vehicle with bullets and speeding off without stealing anything. He died on the spot alongside the driver and another man in the car.
Months later, Paul Ngugi Kariuki, an alleged land dealer who had been charged with defrauding a buyer of Sh95 million, was executed in gangland style along Forest Road on March 5, 2015.
He was shot 15 times while in his Mercedes Benz as he drove home at night in the company of a woman who sustained gunshot wounds. A car blocked their way near a petrol station before gunmen sprayed their car with bullets. The attackers did not steal anything from the victims.
The shooting, according to some government officials, could be linked to land deals. Ngugi’s friends said he told them that he had differed with some of the people he dealt with in a land deal after he was short-changed.
Stephen Mwangi was not lucky either. The land dealer was accosted by unknown assailants and shot 13 times along Limuru Road on October 14, 2014, after leaving the funeral meeting of Oliver Karango, who was killed by police after he reportedly attempted to enter the Kilimani home of National Land Commission chairman Mohamed Swazuri.
Other land dealers killed include Alfred Njau, who also worked as a senior manager at an insurance company. He was shot eight times in a drive-by shooting at the Ruiru-Ruai bypass. Onesmus Mutinda, a land surveyor within Ruia also met the same fate. He was shot 10 times at the same bypass.
