Social media commentator Gabriel Oguda freed after reported abduction

This was confirmed by X user Nyandia Gachago on Wednesday who said "He is safe" after sharing an image showing four people among them Oguda who had been missing since Tuesday morning.

"He is safe watu wangu," she wrote while thanking the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and its president Faith Odhiambo.

His brother Zachary posted: "GAB IS FREE. I can't thank you much Twitter community for coming through for our family when we needed you. Ahsanteni sana."

Oguda, a vocal critic of President William Ruto’s government, was reported to have been taken away from his home at around 2 a.m. by men suspected to be policemen.

His arrest has been linked to his vocal stance online against the unpopular Finance Bill 2024 which has sparked nationwide protests that turned deadly on Tuesday.

Reports of his abduction were shared alongside concerns that other people behind the X pages Franje, Drey Mwangi and Osama Otero, were also captured overnight which sparked a public uproar.

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in a statement on Tuesday morning condemned the abductions as a return to darkness.

LSK President Faith Odhiambo vowed that the lawyers' body will bring those orchestrating the abductions to book.

"Over the last 72 hours, Kenya has been drawn back to the dark era of a rogue, irrational police force operating through repressive, retrogressive, clandestine, illegal, extra-judicial tactics to forcefully quell public dissent against misgivings of government, lapses in governance and more specifically, the contentious Finance Bill 2024," Odhiambo said.

During a National Assembly sitting on Tuesday, Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi said that Oguda, who works as a political analyst at his office, called him to notify him that there were suspected officers who tried to breach his compound.

Speaker Moses Wetangula directed that a report on Oguda's whereabouts be availed in 2 hours.