Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho during a past media briefing. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
With the just-concluded ODM nominations in Mombasa continuing to be shrouded with controversy amid rigging claims, Senator Hassan Omar has hit back at the party over the manner in which the exercise was conducted.Speaking during an interview on a local TV station on Monday, Omar weighed in on the matter which has now elicited mixed reactions amid threats by disgruntled aspirants to ditch the party.According to Omar, in Changamwe Constituency, incumbent MP Omar Mwinyi clinched the ODM ticket. However, the elections board is yet to declare the winner in that particular constituency amid rigging claims in favour of Mwinyi’s opponent.Changamwe nominations were rocked by chaos which culminated in the arrest of Mwinyi for storming a polling station to protest alleged rigging.Regarding the Nyali parliamentary seat nominations where former journalist Mohammed Ali controversially lost to his bitter rival Said Abdallah in the race for the precious ODM ticket, Omar dismissed the results which he said were ‘massaged’ in favour of Abdallah, who is Joho's cousin.The outcome of Nyali nominations has left the Orange Party and Governor Hassan Joho on the spotlight over favouritism claims, even as Ali threatened to ditch the Raila Odinga-led party and contest as an independent candidate should the party’s election board fail to nullify the results.