Stop calling me a thief in village rallies, Obado warns MP

Migori Governor Okoth Obado says he was forced to go public with the MP after his efforts to meet him failed. [Standard]

Migori Governor Okoth Obado gatecrashed a fundraising event led by his Mombasa counterpart Hassan Joho to tell off Suna West MP Peter Masara for reportedly calling him corrupt in his absence before taking off to Nairobi.

The Governor who was not invited to the fund drive hosted by Suna East MP Junet Mohammed arrived at Nyabisawa Girls Secondary School minutes after the invited leaders and did not mince his words when invited to address the function.

 Obado trained his gun on his perceived local enemies whom he accused of insulting him and calling him corrupt everywhere they went.

“I am not corrupt as some of you have been claiming, I have not stolen anything, in fact, some of you are of worse characters,” Obado said.

He told Masara to stop calling him a thief wherever he goes before jumping in their cars to Nairobi.

“There are people who find joy in calling me a thief wherever they go and then take off to the city, Hon Masara stop that bad behaviour, I am not a thief,” the governor said amid laughter.

Obado said he was forced to go public with the MP after his efforts to meet him failed.

“I am sorry, but I have to address the matter here in public because the MP has been avoiding me,” he said.

The MP sat pensively as Obado lectured him over what he described as a sustained insult from the MP and his political opponents.

Obado urge elected leaders to avoid politics of name-calling and instead serve those who elected them in office.

Earlier, there was a tensed silence among the leaders as Obado, Joho, Senator Ochilo Ayacko and a host of ODM legislators shared a dais.

Governor Joho called for a handshake between Governor Obado and Ayacko who have been fierce rivals since the acrimonious 2017 ODM party primaries.

While reminding Obado of the chaos that rocked one of the rallies he (Joho) attended, he challenged the two leaders to work together for the sake of unity.

“The last time I was here, it was not easy, you showed me dust, but the handshake between Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta has changed our politics, let us embrace each other,” Joho said, amid laughter from Obado and the crowd.