Oburu Oginga Dismisses Claims Babu Owino Hired Youths to Chant His Name in Bondo
Interim ODM leader Oburu Oginga has come out swinging in defence of Embakasi East MP Babu Owino – who’s being accused of paying people to chant his name at the funeral of the late opposition leader Raila Odinga in Bondo.
Talking to NTV on Sunday the 3rd of November, Oburu described the allegations as just a cheap political trick to try and take down the young MP. “I had a chat with Babu this morning, and I just can’t figure out why they’re trying to isolate him”, he said. “If people are shouting his name – and let’s face it, they are – that’s because he’s a pretty popular bloke. Now, if Babu wants to be governor of Nairobi, why on earth would he bother hiring people in Bondo to chant his name? He’s got no voters there, that’s just a total waste of time.”
He had a pretty dismissive view of the claim that Babu was disrespecting the funeral by allowing chants in his favour. “That would be a pretty crazy thing for any politician to do”, he said. “People are emotional at a funeral, and any leader worth their salt would make sure they respect that. I don’t think for a minute anyone in their right mind would do something like that to disrespect the family”.
While admitting that there may have been some chants in Babu’s favour, Oburu suggested they were more a sign of sympathy than disrespect. “If people were shouting Babu’s name – and I won’t deny that may well have happened – it’s because they felt he was being unfairly treated. When the public feels someone’s being discriminated against they naturally start sympathising with that person”, he said.
Oburu thinks the perception that Babu was being sidelined within ODM might actually have ended up stirring up public support for him. He also pointed out that Babu had been worried the party might deny him the ticket to run for Nairobi governor in 2027. “We just need to make Babu feel like he’s part of the ODM family and not being left out”, he said. “If there is going to be competition for that ticket then everyone will get a fair crack of the whip – and the best candidate will win out in the end”.
When asked about ODM’s nomination process, Oburu said it just doesn’t work like that. “We don’t hand out tickets or positions before elections for free – that’s just not how we do things”. He explained that the party relies on either consensus among candidates or open nominations if consensus can’t be reached. “That’s the general principle we’ve always stuck to, we don’t just dish out posts to whoever we fancy – if aspirants can’t agree on one person, we have nominations”, he said.
And on the report that Raila Odinga had endorsed Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja for a second term before he died, Oburu just laughed it off. “I’ve got no idea where this is coming from”, he said. “I’m not aware that Sakaja is even a member of ODM – and even if he was, we can’t tell our members who or who not to back – that’s just not how it works”.
Oburu spoke about the shift in leadership within ODM party, saying he is a big fan of younger people taking charge. “Honestly, Id be totally hopeless if i thought that politics was all about age, im a firm believer that the youth should be in the drivers seat and thats one reason why some people call me a youth leader,” he said. “Weve already got some young leaders in ODM and they need to be encouraged to take on more responsiblity and build on what theyve started “
This comes as the landscape is shifting within ODM after the death of Raila, with younger guys like Babu Owino trying to get more influence when it comes to deciding who’ll be the party’s next leader.
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Oburu Oginga Dismisses Claims Babu Owino Hired Youths to Chant His Name in Bondo