"I Was Blindfolded, Driven To a Forest And ForcedTo Apologise While Facing Mount Kenya"....Babu Owino Narrates!!

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Babu Owino, the cantankerous first time MP for Nairobi’s Embakasi East Constituency, has revealed that police officers were debating whether to inject him with mercury when he was arrested for “abusing President Uhuru Kenyatta”.

For his transgressions against the Presidency and for which he was charged with two counts of subversion, Babu was arrested and arraigned in court. He was locked in police cells, granted bail but shortly after re-arrested over assault allegations committed against Mike Jacobs,
his opponent during student elections in August 2016.

Jacobs had since dropped the charges, but police brought another assault charge against an Embakasi East aspirant in the April nominations. Babu was later released on bail. His second arrest, over which he appeared in court and complained of police harassment and intimidation, triggered riots at the University of Nairobi where he was chairman of the once feared Student Organization of Nairobi University (SONU) from 2011 before joining politics.

The riots led to brutal attacks on students by anti-riot police. The university has since been closed because of security concerns. Babu told The Nairobian that during his ordeal with the police he was underfed and his cell at Pangani Police station flooded with water, causing him a sleepless night before he was whisked to an undisclosed location.

“I was blindfolded after my second arrest. We stopped and alighted at a forest. I could feel it was a forest,” he claimed. “They asked me to publicly apologise. I could hear someone threatening that ‘watanidunga mercury’, and that it would be easy,” Babu further claimed, adding that the blindfold was removed upon their return to Pangani from the forest.

He was then thrown into a dark room where “They kept soaking (sic) the room with water. I had to stay standing. But I rather be on my feet than on my knees anyway.” The Nairobian could not independently verify Babu’s allegations. The MP, however joked that it pained him that while incarcerated, the police fed him his favourite meal, but not enough of it. “I love sukumawiki a lot (sic). I see no reason why any person should feed me two uncut leaflets of boiled sukumawiki. 

That’s what they gave me, along with ugali, yet I was wishing for five leaflets of the same.” Babu believes that he is a target of malice because he is a shining light, with a bigger political future in waiting. “Just last week, a local newspaper described me as Baba’s (Raila Odinga) heir apparent. I cannot blow my own trumpet, but time will prove them right. You only stone a tree with fruits,” said Babu.

His wife, Fridah Owino, was a target of cyberbullies and some bloggers on social media and Babu says his wife was distraught during the entire saga, but she supported him all through. “I married my wife. I love her. If they wanted her, they would have taken her before I married her. But she is my wife. She has supported me so much through all this and she continues to.” Babu’s run ins with the President did not start after his election to Parliament. When President Barack Obama came calling in 2016, Babu, then chair of SONU planned demonstrations to force the organisers of the trip to have the University of Nairobi host him instead of Kenyatta University. That was never to be.

In January this year, President Uhuru signed a bill that barred Babu from vying for re-election as chairman. The Universities Amendment Act 2016 disqualifies a student council member from serving for more than two terms. This means that a student leader will only be legible for re-election just once.

Meanwhile, Kikuyu elders ‘cursed’ Babu by slaughtering a ram and prayed facing Mt Kenya for repercussions that will visit “that boy” in seven days, seven months or seven years. Though called upon to apologize, Babu has not jumped at that tiny keyhole of opportunity when the Kikuyu elders called for his cleansing and repentance. Instead, Babu dismissed the curse threats issued at Mama Ngina Gardens in Thika as hot air.

The former student leader said he has nothing but respect for the elders and insists he did no wrong “I did not insult Uhuru. If anything, I have a lot of respect for elders and women.” In insulting the President, the elders charged that Babu, by extension, disrespected Uhuru’s mother, former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta.