EXPOSED: Why Governor Obado suspected Sharon was having affair with his son
The Nation reporter who was kidnapped together with 26-year-old university student Sharon Otieno has revealed inner details of events leading to her tragic death on Monday night.
Journalist Barrack Oduor appears to have interacted with Ms Otieno, Migori Governor Okoth Obado and Mr Obado’s aide Michael Oyamo, longer than initially thought.
Mr Oduor knew Ms Otieno for close to a month, the two met several times and even travelled together twice from Homa Bay to Nairobi on a mission to meet the Governor, but did not manage to, as Mr Obado had travelled to Makueni with other governors.
Interviewed by fellow journalists at Nation Centre, Mr Oduor said he was approached by Ms Otieno who told him that she needed to share a story with him.
‘SEX AFFAIR WITH GOVERNOR’
“We met for the first time almost a month ago and she told me that she had been having an affair with the governor. I questioned her about her details and she said she was a student.
“She also told me that she wanted the story made public because the governor had neglected her. Even so, she admitted to have received Sh100,000 from the governor three weeks before our meeting, an amount she said was too little as compared to what she had been receiving from him before he started ignoring her calls and texts,” Mr Oduor said.
According to Mr Oduor, Ms Otieno she revealed that their affair went sour when the governor discovered that Ms Otieno had been chatting with his own son.
The governor accused her of having an affair with him.
To prove the allegations, Ms Otieno showed Mr Oduor telephone conversations and WhatsApp chats between herself and Mr Obado.
She allegedly also played a recording of a phone conversation whereby the governor purportedly asked her to have an abortion and stop posting too many pictures on social media.
After hearing her story, the journalist said he decided to contact the governor through Mr Mbadi so as to get his side of the story.
Mr Mbadi, true to his word, told the governor that a journalist wanted to speak with him.
‘GOVERNOR CALLED ME’
“Governor Obado called me later and I gave him the story. He said he would not deny or confirm the allegations. He told me that his personal assistant would handle the issue.”
Days later, he said, they travelled together with Ms Otieno to meet the governor in Nairobi but were unable to see him. They travelled back.
“Sharon was constantly hesitant about the story being published in the media. From my understanding, she was not decided fully and so I took my time to conduct more investigations.
“She however kept sending some pictures to the governor, which annoyed him. I still don’t know the kind of pictures those were, but she said he was not happy,” Mr Oduor said.
The conversation between Mr Oduor and Ms Otieno was halted for some time, until on Monday (the day they were abducted) when Ms Otieno called Mr Oduor, telling him that the governor’s aide, Michael Oyamo, had asked her to ask him to go and meet him.
Ms Otieno, who was a second year Medical Records and Information student at Rongo University, was the one in contact with the PA all this time and planned the meeting, according Mr Oduor.
Mr Oyamo, Mr Oduor and Sharon met at Graca Hotel in Rongo around 7.35pm, but the PA said that they had to move to a different venue.
They all boarded a vehicle with two occupants that sped towards Kisumu.
On the way, the car stopped and Mr Oyamo disembarked, two people got in and sandwiched Mr Otieno and Mr Oduor between them, according to the journalist.
TORTURED
On the way, the two men became violent and tortured them and on sensing danger, Mr Oduor jumped out of the moving vehicle at Nyangweso market on the Homa Bay-Kisumu road, and escaped into a nearby homestead, according to the journalist.
Mr Oyamo was arrested on Tuesday morning while the body of Sharon was discovered in a thicket in Kodero market.