Mombasa governor Hassan Joho with ODM party leader Raila Odinga Photo/www.zipo.co.ke
Migori Governor Okoth Obado has said he is in ODM to stay despite the party leader Raila Odinga and his Deputy Hassan Joho messing up nominations by preferring certain candidates. The alleged partiality by Governor Joho caused chaos in Migori.“What Joho and the party leadership did in Migori was interference with the party nomination process through open favouritism. I have not been summoned by the party leadership. I have taken the initiative to personally go and present my complaints, the manner in which some leaders have been handling the nomination process,” he said.Obado complained that he tried to reach out to Joho before the fracas but he couldn’t. The futile attempts of negotiations sparked the confrontation in Migori.“When I got information that Joho was to attend a public event in my territory, I tried to reach out to him as my colleague. But when I called him, he told me to wait for a few minutes, and that he would call me back. He never called, and when I got back, someone else picked and told me the governor was sick. The next thing I saw was Mr Joho in Migori to endorse my opponent,” Obado said.However, Raila’s spokesperson, Dennis Onyango has said that Obado and Joho Joho have held reconciliatory talks at Capital Hill.“The two condemned the violence that occurred at the party’s meeting in Migori on Monday. They agreed to support free and fair nominations. Mr Joho, who is also the ODM deputy party leader, assured the party fraternity that there were no preferred candidates,” read the statement.