Sakaja: I've been told to step down from Nairobi Governor race or face consequences

Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja now claims emissaries have been sent to him to warn him to drop his bid to become the city’s governor or face unspecified consequences.

Sakaja, making the revelation on Spice FM on Friday morning, alleged that the tribulations he is presently facing are purely political because he offended the powers that be.

He claimed that, even last week, a fellow Senator he has had a very cordial relationship with over the years was sent to him with the message that he should step down from the race and all the problems bedeviling him will go away.

Sakaja acknowledged that while the process has served to keep him busy and slow his campaign a tad, it has not shed even the tiniest bit of his resolve to lead the city.

“People have been sent to me, as recently as last week telling me ‘you know, it’s going to be very bad for you in cuffs, just go for holiday, say you’re sick, step down from this race and we’ll make all these things go away.’ And they’ve used very close friends, they’ve used a very close Senator to me,” he said.

“They warned me of consequences. So I’m not whining, I’m facing it head on. I know what’s happening, I know the plan, I understand the game so well. But ultimately we keep our eye on the prize. I just want to say emphatically that I will not step down, I am properly on the ballot and God willing I’ll get elected.”

He added: “I understand how these guys operate, that’s why I’m very calm. For the last 8/9 years I have been at the center of political strategy for that side. So I know who says what, who uses what approach, and who pushes what agenda.”

Sakaja once again roped President Uhuru Kenyatta into his tribulations, alleging that it is because of falling out with him politically that he is now being put through the wringer.

According to the lawmaker, he was aware of plans to install a leader from a particular community to run for Nairobi Governor, hence his decision to ditch the President Kenyatta-led Jubilee Party for Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA).

“I guess I offended my former party, my former boss – who is still my boss because he’s the President - who could not understand why I would go to the party I went to. Some say that you never bite the hand that feeds you, and I acknowledged the journey we had gone through, but when that hand starts strangling you, you must scream,” he said.

“The same thing that they did to Tim Wanyonyi is what was due to me, if I stayed in that formation. Because their argument is that there is a political community that is saying that ‘if we’re supporting Raila for the presidency, we must get this position,’ and that was their balancing act.”

On why he feels his candidature is being fought by certain quarters, Sakaja said:

“Because Nairobi is important. And they realize that the only way they can win is by me not being on the ballot, and that’s their intention, for whatever nefarious plans they might have or good ones that they think I would not accomplish, and I tell them let the people decide.