A keen observation will show you that both opposition leader Raila Odinga and his elder brother, former Bondo lawmaker Oburu Odinga lack baptism names.
This can be traced back to their father and the first Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who himself dropped his Obadiah Adonijah tittle to adopt the rhyming name.
It seems that the founding father suddenly became so rooted to Africanism that he demanded that the two, alongside their brother Omuodo Agola, be baptized using their current names.
The proposal was rejected by Reverend Simon Nyende of Church Mission Society who was carrying out the practice in Maseno Kisumu back when the leaders were young.
Jaramogi pulled all his strings to have the trio baptized using his proposed names, including writing to the Archdeacon of the church, bringing up the matter with the church council and getting references from the Bishop in Nairobi.
Oburu would later be baptized after Chief N'gon'ga Molo Buru, a great national figure then.
This came at a time when the man who would later be one of the biggest leaders in the country had earlier had a spat with the kids' mother and his first wife, who then took off.
In his book 'Not Yet Uhuru', Oginga says that she left after he knocked her down for defying his schedule on how to suckle and wash the young Oburu, who the first born.
The others would also retain their names with very little, however, being said of Agola.
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