At the height of the activism against what many saw as the dictatorship of the Moi regime, Professor Anyang' Nyong'o was set up by a journalist for arrest over a coup attempt he said he had no role in.
It was in 1980 and the politically conscious academic was part of a team that organised a demonstration against the sale of arms by the United Kingdom to the minority government of South Africa.
The demonstration went on peacefully as no stone was hurled according to the Governor of Kisumu who narrated the events of the 80s to an audience in Kisumu during an Engage event in 2018.
One Saturday as he was in his office whiling away the hours with work, he received a call from a journalist who was working for the now-defunct Nairobi Times then a widely read publication.
"Saturday I am working in my office, I get a call from a journalist Peter Kariithi, he was working with a paper called Nairobi Times. He calls me and says, "Professor we have been told that you people are organising a coup against the government." I said, "Where?" the Kisumu governor said.
The professor told the journalist that he was not aware if there was a plan afoot to overthrow the government of the day.
After the interview, the Nairobi Times would carry a headline entitled 'Lecturer denies plot charge'.
It is that headline that would spell problems for Prof. Anyang' Nyong'o.
"The next day in the Nairobi Times, a huge headline: 'Lecturer denies plot charge' which means I knew about the plot but I am denying it, " he added.
On Monday, officers from the Special Branch arrived at his house in a convoy of Peugeot cars.
He was bundled into one of the cars and carted away for interrogation.