Just hours after news about 1982 coup spread across the country, a section of loyal soldiers around Nakuru acted swiftly to save President Moi from possible attack.
Lt. General Lazurus Sumbeiywo and his brother, Elijah Sumbeiywo, then Presidential Escort Commander, drove from Nakuru State House to Moi's Kabarak home along with five heavily armed soldiers.
Upon arrival at Kabarak,they found the president calm and already aware of the mutiny.
“I found Mzee extremely calm. He was standing and very composed. He spoke in Kiswahili saying this wayward Air Force think they can take over the Government, but we shall deal with them," recalls Sumbeiywo in an interview with the Standard.
And after confirmation that Nanyuki Airbase had also joined the coup, Sumbeiywo and his team now had another task of evaluating a stubborn Moi to a safer place.
But Moi, a courageous man, refused to leave his compound before he was prevailed upon by Hezekiah Oyugi and Elijah Sumbeiywo, who had also accompanied his brother.
“Mzee told me, hii ni nyumba yangu, niende wapi? (This is my house, why should I leave?).” Moi’s attitude was simple, if the Air Force men had an issue, they should go to him. He was not running anywhere.
The armed team swiftly drove through bushes to Moi's Solai farm in Subukia and would at times stop within the thickets to make calls to loyal forces about the situation.
At 10am, news reached the team that loyal troops had quashed the rebel Air Force servicemen and a decision was quickly made to drive Moi back from Solai thickets to Kabarak.
At 1pm, Moi arrived in Kabarak before arrangements were made to ferry him to Nairobi via road with armoured vehicles escorting his entourage.
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