- Questions have arisen as to the motive of the brutal murder of Father Evans Juma Oduor
- Sources claimed that Fr Oduor was a disturbed man and feared for his life
- His body was discovered at Chiga market centre in Muhoroni
A possible love triangle, allegations of power grab, lucrative tenders, a local politician, unseen enemies and disturbing dreams about his death convoluted the life of a Catholic priest who was brutally murdered recently in Western Kenya.
The body of Father Evans Juma Oduor, the priest in charge of the Nyabondo Catholic Parish in Muhoroni, Kisumu County, was discovered at Chiga market centre in Muhoroni, about 30 kilometres from his parish.
The burnt remains of the car he was travelling in was found about five killometres from the scene where his 35-year-old body was lying lifeless, having been bludgeoned with blunt objects.
“We saw the body and from the look of things, he must have died such a painful death. It was inhuman,” said a nun at the Archdiocese of Kisumu Parish.
“He was tortured and left to die. The few people who were with him during his last days say Fr Oduor was a disturbed man and many a time, he had confided in us that his life was in danger.”
The torched car belonged to Sister Caroline Sika, a long-time friend whom he had dropped at her Chiga Parish Convent after running errands in town.
The car, which Fr Juma often used, was said to have been a gift to Sr Caroline from another missionary priest.
“Sister Sika is stationed at St Francis Nyamonge, where she is the head teacher.
She’s been spending most of her free time with Fr Oduor since his arrival and they are often seen together in her car, the same vehicle that was burnt,” said a man of the cloth in the archdiocese.
A source within Ahero told The Nairobian that, “Our rules do not allow sisters to own personal property and we understand that the car was bought by a missionary priest as a gift to Sister Caroline,” said the source, adding that Fr Oduor’s closeness to Sr Caroline could not have gone down well with the other priest as Sr Sika allowed Fr Juma to use it often.
Friends described Fr Oduor and Sr Sika as “very close friends” who met through another Catholic nun who was Fr Oduor’s classmate at Sigomere Secondary School in Ugenya, Siaya County, between 1997 and 2000.
Fr Oduor was using Sr Sika’s vehicle after defaulting on his own car loan repayment, leading to its repossession, according to a close friend who explained that, “It was after his car was taken away that he started using the car belonging to the nun.
The nun was his close confidant and they spent a lot of time together even though they were stationed at different parishes,” said the friend, who is also Fr Oduor’s former classmate at Sigomere Secondary School.
“He was a man of the people and very friendly to the masses. That’s probably why he was very close to Sister Sika, a nun from Alego Mbaga in Siaya County,” recalled a nun from the Kisumu archdiocese. While he differed many a time with people, he remained a very jovial man and was often straightforward in his opinions and sentiments, she added.
“The motive for his murder is baffling,” Fr Oduor’s friend said, arguing that, “If they were robbers they wouldn’t have burnt the car, and how could it be political yet Evans never engaged in politics?
If it is a long standing difference with some people, he would have shared it with me since we were so close and he always shared his issues with me.”
But Fr Oduor, though jovial and a “man of the people,” is said to have made many enemies after his move to Nyabondo Catholic Parish as head priest in July 2017, especially when he began implementing drastic administrative changes, including interdicting Sister Sarah Adipo, the principal of Ahero Girls High School in Nyando Sub-County on October 2016 over alleged misappropriation of funds.
The students went on the rampage and the school was closed, escalating the personal differences Fr Oduor had with several people, including those who had won tenders from the school.
Innocent Masara, a member of the school’s board of management, condemned the closure even as Fr Oduor pushed for the transfer of Sister Adipo, accusing her of running down the institution with policies that were not beneficial to the school.
A source at the parish told The Nairobian that Fr Oduor “condemned Sr Adipo’s long-standing friendship and association with Masara,” who is the director of Track One Learners Alliance and a well-known politician in the area.
But Masara told The Nairobian that their disagreements and the transfer of Sr Adipo could not be cited as a motive to kill the priest.
“I met the priest once during a board meeting sometime in September last year. I have never been to the school after that,” explained Masara, distancing himself from the murder and insisting that he never had any differences with Fr Oduor.
“We do not know whether Father Oduor’s death is political or not,” said a nun at the parish. “My good friend and colleague really suffered before succumbing to his injuries.”
Both Sister Sika and Sister Adipo belong to the Franciscan order. Bishop Philip Anyolo of the Homa Bay Diocese where Sister Sika hails said he could not comment on the matter as it happened in a different territory.
“It is true that Franciscan Sisters of St Joseph Asumbi is under my diocese and this is the mother diocese for Sister Sika, but once sisters are posted to serve in a different territory, their issues are handled within that territory, so I advise that you visit Kisumu Diocese,” said Anyolo.
The Kisumu archdiocese is under Archbishop Zacchaeus Okoth who was among the top church leadership to view the body of Fr Oduor at the morgue.
Fr Oduor and Archbishop Okoth were said to be close and that Fr Oduor had reportedly disclosed to His Grace the Archbishop that his life was in danger and his fellow member of the clergy in Kisumu were well aware of the delicate issues that bothered him.
Reached for comment by The Nairobian, Archbishop Okoth refused to comment on the matter.
Nyanza Regional DCI Officer Geofrey Kathurima, confirmed that Sister Sika recorded a statement to help police with investigations and that, “We are trying to follow leads to unravel the mysterious murder.
From the observation of the body, it looks like the man was attacked by a gang whose primary motive was to kill him.”
Father Oduor was born on August 18, 1982 at Sigomere village in Ugenya, Siaya County, as the sixth born in a family of 10 siblings. He attended his primary school in Nanyuki before proceeding to Sigomere Secondary School between 1997 and 2000.
He joined the Nyeri Seminary in the seven years to 2009 and was ordained as a priest in May 2011 and posted to the Milimani Parish in Kisumu, where he served for six months before being transferred to Ahero. In July this year, he was transferred to head Nyabondo Parish.
