The Council of Governors (CoG) chairperson Wycliff Oparanya has asked former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to abandon his 2022 presidential bid and support others.
Oparanya argued that the ODM leader had been in politics for long, and that he (Oparanya) is the only leader from the Luyha community who has supported Odinga faithfully.
“When I joined the parliament in 2002, Raila was there, and I have been with him all through. I was also part of the team that formed ODM,” stated the Kakamega governor.
Oparanya also noted that he had campaigned for Raila in 2013 and 2017 and helped him to gain a lot of votes, adding that the former PM had exhausted his chances for a presidential run.
“It is now time for him to support me as his eldest child. I know that if he supports me, I will be able to defeat Ruto with a big margin,” Oparanya said.
Raila has not made it clear whether he will be running for presidency come 2021, but has in the past promised to make his plans clear at the right time.
When asked about whether he would ask for support from other Luhya leaders, especially Wetang'ula and Mudavadi, Oparanya said that he does not intend to do so because he does not want to owe anyone anything.
Oparanga has been at the forefront in rooting for the BBI in his backyard as well as across the country.
It will be interesting to see how the political chess game plays out after Oparanya's announcement, which is likely to ruffle feathers in ODM.
BBI got a breakthrough this week after the verification of its signature endorsers surpassed the 1M threshold requiring for the BILL to proceed to the next stage.
BBI proposes additional 70 MPs to be distributed across all the current 47 counties.
