Opposition leader Raila Odinga is indeed a man of many lives as is evident in the numerous unsuccessful attempts at his life.
Raila, who had just won a parliamentary seat in Lang’ata after being released from political detention, had decided to try his luck at national politics and instead ended up stepping on the wrong toes.
Reports by The Standard indicated that in 1995, just a year after Jaramogi Oginga's death, Ford-Kenya held elections to replace its deceased chairman.
Ford Kenya was seeking to elect a new chairman and Kijana Wamalwa the then second in command, hoped to acquire the seat but faced stiff competition from Raila.
Whoever was elected chairman would automatically become the party’s presidential candidate in the 1997 presidential election and this put the two at loggerheads.
Raila had ferried youth delegates in 11 buses to the Thika stadium, however, they spent the night at the stadium and by 4 am, they had locked the gates blocking the presiding officers from accessing and Wamalwa's supporters from accessing the premises.
“They said only Archbishop Kuria could get into the stadium but we could not allow this as we feared they could kidnap him and force him to declare Raila the winner under duress,” stated Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda, who had been appointed to preside over the election.
Wamalwa's team got impatient prompting Ogada to withdraw his axe breaking open the chain used to lock the gates
The bone of contention aroused from the delegates list that was disputed by Raila and Wamalwa's teams. It turned out that they both had their own lists of delegates and this where all hell broke loose.
In the heat of the heated exchange and stampede, a police officer cocked his AK47 rifle, aimed at Raila and was about to pull the trigger when a hawk-eyed cleric saw him.
Amid the roars of gunfire, exploding tear gas canisters and cries from injured delegates, the Rev George Okoth Otura, a young evangelist who doubled as a civil right activist, jumped onto Raila and with the help of another youth, Martin Otieno alias Oti, forced him onto the ground in a desperate bid to shield him from the flying bullets.
Otura, who now lives in Canada but was in Kenya recently admitted that there were plans to kill the AU Envoy.
“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,” Otura recalled.
However, the officer who was aiming at Raila eventually sprayed uncountable bullets that caught one of the delegates on the leg.
Otura further disclosed to date, they never knew who wanted Raila dead on that day but was “convinced there were plans to kill him to disorganise the opposition, but it was like they didn’t plan well.”
After the chaos, Wamalwa’s team regrouped and he was declared the party’s new chairman.
