Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary-General, Edwin Sifuna has revealed details of meetings that sealed Presidential aspirant Jimmy Wanjigi's fate within the party.
Speaking on JKL, on Wednesday, January 19, Sifuna noted that the Presidential hopeful had failed to convince the ODM National Executive Committee on why he is the perfect fit to lead the party forward.
As a member of the NEC, Sifuna entailed that conversations and meetings showed that Wanjigi was able to convince only one out of 38 members.
"I'm a NEC member, we are those people who vote to determine the presidential candidate. I can tell out of 38 people, Jimmy Wanjigi has only managed to convince only one person. It is not just about crying and saying you're a candidate.
"I have had a conversation with him because I consider him my friend and I would not wish what's happening to him, to happen to my enemies. He was unable to convince me on a path to victory for us as ODM with him as our candidate, this is just the truth," Sifuna stated.
Further, Sifuna rubbished that the ODM leader Raila Odinga played a role in the raid at Wanjigi's house.
" Not everything that happens in the life of a politician is political. This is not the first raid at Wanjigi’s house. I have 10,000 life members in ODM. Today I do not know what sort of problems that the members will get themselves into. Not everything that happens in my life is political as well.
"The issue is a legal problem that will be sorted out by Wanjigi and his legal team alone, where does Raila Odinga come into play in all of this?" Sifuna posed.
Wanjigi had initially been arrested over the alleged fraudulent acquisition of land. Police officers raided his house, and according to his legal team, the detectives had destroyed property worth Ksh10 million
“They broke into the office and caused damage to property worth more than Ksh.10 million. We are still doing assessments to come up with the exact figure,” Wanjigi’s lawyer, Willis Otieno, stated in court.
After failing to take plea in court, the businessman's case was suspended pending the determination of a case he filed in court challenging his arrest.
Wanjigi was later freed after Senior Principal Magistrate Bernard Ochoi stopped his further arrest or arraignment. He was also acquitted with no charges preferred against him.
