By the time the doyen of opposition politics Jaramogi Oginga Odinga died in 1994, he cherished the then Ugenya MP James Orengo as his favorite successor in Luo Nyanza politics.
At that time, Orengo was one of experienced politician, despite his youthful age, having been first elected to Parliament in 1980 aged 29.
Mr Orengo, an alumni of prestigious Alliance High School and University of Nairobi, had fought along Jaramogi, detained at even going to exile.
During Jaramogi's burial in 1994, the government barricaded roads to Siaya to block Orengo from attending. However, he eventually made it and scolded President Daniel Moi.
While Raila Odinga was then already an experienced politician and MP for Lang'ata, Oginga was cautious to have him on national politics given previous detention experiences.
In 1995, a strategic Orengo planned with then Ford Kenya Vice Chairman Michael Wamalwa for an arrangement that could see them assuming party leadership after Jaramogi's death.
Raila, who was then keen to become Vice Chairman, learnt about Orengo's plans. He opted to run against Wamalwa for chairperson post.
In a chaotic elections at Thika stadium, both Wamalwa and Raila declared themselves winners. However, Raila would move out later and form NDP, leaving Orengo in Ford Kenya.
“I knew they were going to kill Raila. I have never been scared like that in my life. I heard a senior police officer ordering one of his juniors to aim at Raila and we had to act fast by pushing him to the ground. We were ready to take the bullets on his behalf. He was initially resistant and wanted to look at the policemen but we eventually subdued him,” recalls Okoth Otura.
Gideon Ochanda says there was confusion a day before the Thika event following reports that Raila had organised a parallel election at the City Stadium.
“Raila and his team were headed for City Stadium but shifted to Thika at the eleventh hour after realising it was the gazetted venue,” recalls Ochanda. He says the events at Thika that day shaped Raila’s political destiny.
In 2002, Raila teamed up with Wamalwa forcing Orengo to bow out. Orengo ran for presidency on SDP, finishing fourth and subsequently losing his parliamentary seat.
But in 2007, Orengo, beaten to submission by dominance of now lethal Raila, joined the ODM party which he has served to date under Mr Odinga.