‘Raila’s assassination claim’
Winnie Odinga says her father, opposition leader Raila Odinga, feared he would be assassinated during his mock swearing-in in January of 2018.
On January 20, 2018, Odinga who claims to have won the August 2017 polls, disregarded advice from the international community and threats from the government and proceeded to swear himself as ‘People’s President’ before a mammoth crowd at Uhuru Park in Nairobi.
Winnie also says she disregarded her father’s advice and stayed by his side all through the event.
“My Dad was saying this might be the last time we see each other, so he didn’t want me to come with him, but I insisted we should go together because I was thinking how President JF Kennedy was assassinated back in the US, and he was with his wife who held him when he was shot dead. I wanted to be with my Dad just in case anything happened to him,” she explained in a radio interview with Massawe Japanni.
Winnie also disclosed that even though she wept when her father controversially lost the 2007 elections, she managed to contain her emotions in 2017.