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Sunday 26 April 2015

Guv Obado hires goons to disrupt church service

There was disbelief last Sunday when a group of hired hoodlums made an attempt to disrupt a church service at Rapogi Catholic Church.  The youth, most of whom were drunk and intoxicated with drugs were on a mission to eject Anne Omondi Anyanga who is the wife of the Nyatike  MP. She is aspiring to unseat Obado in the forthcoming 2017 Migori governorship  run.
Mrs Anyanga had driven all the way from her home, which is located at Luanda Kadem a distance of about 40 kilometres to attend the morning mass at the Rapogi parish.
Earlier, taxi riders had been instructed to stop her from accessing Rapogi road from Uriri centre’s junction. But when her entourage arrived at the junction, the goons disappeared after realising that she had a heavy police escort.
There was more drama at Rapogi market just a few metres from the church when the local boda bodas who had been hired to prevent her entry into the church compound chased the hired goons.
 Outside the parked church, security was tight and the goons were forced to move away and began singing obscene songs from a distance away from the market place and not within the church compound as they had planned. She eventually attended the first mass and later attended the second one and left at about midday without any ugly incident.
Meanwhile, the ODM Migori county branch has called upon Governor Obado to rimmediately for engaging in thuggery.
 The branch said if the governor fails to tender his resignation, ODM with a majority of MCAs in the county assembly would mobilise its members to impeach him.
The branch chairman Phillip Makabong’o said in a statement that Governor Obado should resign as the Migori governor. He has exhibited his dictatorial tendencies and  managing the county affairs. The governor has made himself the judge and the prosecutor, and has openly been scrambling for the Catholic Church land and is out to resolve the dispute through force as opposed to legal means.
Makabong’o said ODM is irked that Obado has ignored the rule of law and invaded the Rapogi church property. And this is the reason why our party has to intervene. We advise the governor to use the established court of law instead of resorting to unorthodox means  such as storming the church congregation with drunken youths.
The attempt to use the gang to disrupt the church prayers was roundly condemned by residents of Rapogi.  One resident said that it could have been that the MP had visited the area to campaign against Obado’s gimmicks to defraud the church. “But she has the right to visit any place of prayers and does not need permission from the governor to do so. Mrs Anyanga is seen as the most eligible and credible challenger of the governor in the next general election for the seat of governor.
She was in the race for the same position in 2013 as the running mate of Edward Oyugi on ODM ticket. Obado who had lost the party ticket during the nominations, later jumped to Omigo Magara’s People Democratic Party to clinch the coveted seat. He won the governor’s seat after forming an alliance with two parliamentary candidates for the two Kuria seats-Kuria East and Kuria West who were in TNA. He also entered into a loose alliance with Senator Wilfred Machage who was running on ODM ticket. He used the votes from the Kuria community which helped him tame the ODM candidate.
However, the situation might be different during  the next general elections  because the populist MP, according to sources,  would contest the election of Migori governor’s seat on her own volition.
The other man said to be eyeing the same seat is Ochillo-Ayacko. Both Mrs Anyanga and Ayacko are staunch members of the Catholic Church, which enjoys the largest following in Migori county, therefore a battle of titans lies ahead for Obado who is yet to appear before the EACC. He is among governors whose names were included in the list of shame.
It would therefore be a miracle for him to retain his coveted seat.

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