On January 15, 2019, NTV reporter Silas Apollo and his cameraman, Dickson Onyango had been sent on assignment at the DusitD2 complex along 14 Riverside Drive in Westlands, Nairobi.
Apollo was to interview George Ooko, the secretary of the Commission for Revenue Allocation (CRA), a news piece that would run on NTV’s 9 p.m. bulletin.
Speaking on Unscripted With Grace in January 2020, he revealed that he was sceptical about conducting the interview, but went ahead anyway.
"I wasn't feeling like I needed to do it, I had enough material to execute the story but we needed people to speak," he told Grace Msalame.
The duo arrived at CRA offices some minutes past 2.40 p.m. and was ushered into the boardroom of CRA’s offices.
They set up and were ready for the interview but just before they could begin, they heard a loud explosion that shook the building.
The explosion was then followed by gunshots and another explosion, which sent everyone running up and down the corridors.
"I ran into the nearest open door, which turned out to be the door that led to the washrooms on the first floor. Seven of us found ourselves in the same washroom," Apollo recounted.
The seven would stay in this washroom for the next 12 hours.
"We could hear gunshots punctuated by a bit of silence. We did not know what was happening. We could not tell if the police had arrived or not.
"The most prominent person we had in that cubicle was one of the commissioners of the CRA, Prof Edward Akong'o Oyugi. Given his age, he was breathing a bit heavily which was quite alarming for the rest of us. We would tell him to keep it cool," he continued.
Apollo, who had sat on the toilet seat, narrated that at some point he had to switch places with Oyugi, to help him calm down.
"I was seated on the toilet seat while the others were standing on the edges so I was told to vacate my seat for the professor, which I did out of respect. He sat and it is then that he started calming down," the journalist recounted.
Apollo narrated that the situation was very tense. They did not know whether they would die or survive.
"At one point, someone decided to flash the toilet in the other washroom which sent us into further panic. There were people who were mumbling prayers, one called his wife and told her to pray for us and said his last words in case he did not make it. It was a bit touching.
"The scariest thing was that we did not know the way out. We knew that it was just a matter of time before either the attackers or the police stormed in," he added.
The NTV reporter narrated that he got holed up at the washroom from around 3 p.m. to around 3 a.m. when they were rescued.
"Some minutes towards midnight, the lights went off and the entire building was shut down and our AC stopped working. At this time we believed they would get us out.
"At around 3 a.m. we heard a commotion, we had decided that everyone would fight for their life, but then we had them shout that it was the police, we knew that help had come. It was quite a relief," Apollo stated.
He stated that the 12 hours he remained locked up in a bathroom taught him to value family and friends and that life is a gift.
Below is a video courtesy of NTV;
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