EALA MP Mbugua interrogated over assault of former NCBDA chairman Muriuki

Wanted suspect Suleiman (left) is seen in this picture dinning with Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko at a wedding in Nairobi. [Photo: Courtesy]

East Africa Legislative Assembly Member Simon Mbugua has been interrogated over the April 30 assault of former Nairobi Central Business District Association official Timothy Muriuki.

Officers questioned Mr Mbugua at a city restaurant for hours before they took him to Central Police Station. He has denied knowledge of the assault.

Those arrested alongside Mbugua were Stephen Sangira, Benjamin Odhiambo, alias Solo, and Anthony Ombok, alias Jamal, who were not, however, quizzed over the assault.

Divisional Criminal Investigation Officer Central Samuel Kobina said they would be arraigned in court today.

One of the men wanted following the April 30 assault is a former convict, who had been held in Tanzania over robbery with violence charges.

Michael Wathigo Mbanya alias Miky went underground after he and others assaulted Muriuki at the Boulevard Hotel on April 30.

Mbanya was on December 16, 2005, alongside 11 other Kenyans, arrested in Maputo, Mozambique, over claims of robbery with violence.

Other suspects in the April 30 assault are still at large and a Sh2.5 million bounty has been put on their heads.

In Nairobi, police say they are yet to establish the whereabouts of Mbanya and his accomplices.

Officers handling the case said they plan to expand the probe and get more suspects who were at the scene.

Nairobi police boss Joseph ole Tito said they had profiled most of the suspects and efforts to get them were ongoing.

Muriuki was addressing journalists at the hotel when the group of men stormed in, grabbed his statement and tore it before frogmarching him outside the compound and beating him up.

Mbanya is the one who first confronted Muriuki. Witnesses say he is the one who tore the statement Muriuki was reading at the Boulevard Hotel.

The group, while assaulting Muriuki, accused him of intending to malign Governor Mike Sonko.

Whereas the attackers thought Muriuki was criticising Sonko, he says he was actually praising him and calling for patience to allow the governor to deliver his promises.

Muriuki had called the meeting to brief the media on the state of affairs in Nairobi County, and how some issues could be fixed.

Sonko has disassociated himself from the suspects and demanded that action be taken against them.