WATCH: Without a trace: Is Governor Obado holed up in Nairobi after aborting Kigali trip?
The Nation has independently established that Migori Governor Okoth Obado was meant to represent the Council of Governors at the ongoing African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Kigali, Rwanda, as the COGs Agriculture Committee Chairman.
Sources told the Nation the Governor had planned to travel on September 4, a day after university student Sharon Otieno and journalist Barrack Oduor were abducted.
The AGRF event kicked off on Wednesday, September 5, the day Ms Otieno’s body was discovered in a thicket in Oyugis, Homa Bay County.
The event concludes on Saturday, September 8, but the governor is not in Kigali.
SHELVED TRIP
Mr Obado may have shelved his trip because of the ongoing investigations.
“It is true the governor was to represent the CoG at the event in Rwanda but I cannot authoritatively tell you about his whereabouts. Let your Nairobi team check for him in the city,” a source familiar with the Rwanda trip told Nation.
In Migori, another source revealed that the governor was last seen in office last week and that he travelled to Nairobi on Monday awaiting his Tuesday travel to Rwanda.
Monday is the day Ms Otieno and Mr Oduor were abducted. The governor’s press secretary Mr Nicholas Anyuor was cagey over the governor’s whereabouts.
The official said he could not comment on the governor’s locations but only respond to any queries directed at his boss.
‘WHERE THE GOVERNOR IS’
“Why do you want to know where the governor is? I am his press secretary and whatever I tell you is his response,” Mr Anyuor said.
On Wednesday, at the governors elaborate Rapogi home in Uriri, riot police were deployed on Wednesday as students of Rongo University protested against Ms Otieno’s killing.
On Thursday, there was minimal activity at the home.
The usual sirens that normally rent the air as the governor arrives and leaves were conspicuously silent.