MP Oburu Oginga says he will not contest ODM decision
What you need to know:
- Dr Oginga on Sunday said he would not vie as an independent candidate against his long-term political rival, Mr Ochanda.
- Dr Oginga was floored by Mr Ochanda with 28,446 votes against 4,000, but he rejected the results.
Nominated MP Oburu Oginga will not contest the verdict of the ODM elections board that declared the incumbent Gideon Ochanda the winner of the Bondo parliamentary seat ticket.
Dr Oginga on Sunday said he would not vie as an independent candidate against his long-term political rival, Mr Ochanda, who was on Saturday handed the ODM ticket by the party’s elections board.
Dr Oginga, the elder brother of National Super Alliance (Nasa) presidential candidate Raila Odinga, said he would now join Mr Ochanda’s campaign team to ensure that he recaptures Bondo parliamentary seat on August 8.
Dr Oginga was floored by Mr Ochanda with 28,446 votes against 4,000, but he rejected the results.
Moments later, Siaya ODM returning officer Joshua Anyona nullified Mr Ochanda’s win and declared Dr Oginga the winner of the party ticket for the constituency seat.
ODM UPHELD OCHANDA VICTORY
According to Mr Anyona, Dr Oginga garnered 15,784 votes against Ochanda’s 9,538. But on Saturday, the Judith Pareno-led team upheld Ochanda’s victory.
“I would like to thank the people of Bondo who gave me an opportunity to serve them for four terms until 2013 when I decided not to contest,” said Dr Oginga.
However, Dr Oginga who first entered Parliament as Bondo MP in 1994 after winning a by-election following his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s death, said he would not bow out of active politics yet.
ODM director of political affairs Opiyo Wandayi, who accompanied Dr Oginga urged other aspirants who lost party primaries to emulate the Nominated MP.
Meanwhile, an aspirant for the Kasipul parliamentary seat, journalist Isaac Ongiri, who on Saturday won a petition he filed at the ODM tribunal challenging the election of businessman Charles Ong'ondo Were has urged the party to give him the nomination certificate.
WON PRIMARIES
Mr Ongiri has claimed he won the Kasipul parliamentary elections after getting 10,308 votes against Ongondo Were who got 8,105 votes.
On Saturday, the tribunal ordered that the provisional certificate earlier issued to Mr Were be withdrawn and urged the NEB to embark on a fresh process of nominating a candidate.
“I am happy that the ruling has given a clear picture of what happened on the ground. If the party fails to issue me with the certificate then I will move on to the political parties tribunal to demand that I be issued with the certificate on account of results from my agents which indicate a win with a margin of 2,000 against Mr Were,” said Mr Ongiri.
