MediaEvolves
Raila Odinga, the Chief Opposition leader, stated that he does not hold President William Ruto responsible for the alleged rigging of the August elections.
Instead, he attributed the rigging allegations to former IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati, indicating that he was the one to blame.
Raila made these remarks during an interview with KTN that took place late at night on Tuesday.
“I don’t blame William Ruto, Chebukati was working on behalf of Ruto,” he said.
According to Raila Odinga, there was a long-standing plan to rig him out of victory in the elections, and they had conducted investigations into the matter.
Raila stated that they had significant evidence of the individuals involved in the plan and their discussions, including members of the Supreme Court.
“Evidence that we have is substantial. It cannot be controverted,” he said.
Raila Odinga alleged that they discovered his loss was orchestrated by former IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati’s involvement in procuring ICT infrastructure, as well as collusion between Chebukati and the IEBC CEO Hussein Marjan with Smartmatics.
He criticized the removal of the Cherera Four from their positions and denounced the conclusions reached by the Justice Aggrey Muchelule-led tribunal that Azimio had a plot to rig the elections.
“It is so annoying the kind of confidence these guys have. That they can try to lie to the whole nation the way they have,” he said.
“We said these must be the end. We don’t want Kenyans to be run again this way.”
Raila Odinga expressed regret that he did not push for the removal of Wafula Chebukati from his position as IEBC chairman before the 2018 handshake.
“We should not have agreed to go to elections under Chebukati. But the thing was the fear that the country was going to break apart,” he added.
Raila Odinga stated that he consulted with a diplomat from the EU regarding how the situation would have unfolded after the four IEBC commissioners dissented.
“He said that it would not be acceptable. Where four commissioners say no and three say yes. He said that the country would be suspended from the EU,” he added.
Raila Odinga insisted that he emerged as the winner of the 2022 elections with 8.1 million votes, while William Ruto garnered 5.9 million votes.
However, the official results released by the IEBC indicated that Ruto was declared the winner with 7.1 million votes, while Raila received 6.9 million votes.
