Post-mortem to reveal what killed Gichugu IEBC man Geoffrey Gitobu
Gichugu Constituency returning officer Geoffrey Gitobu who collapsed and died on August 22, 2022. He is seen here at Kianyaga Boys High School tallying centre.
A post-mortem will be done tomorrow (Wednesday) in a bid to unravel the truth behind the sudden death of an Independent and Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) returning officer in Gichugu, Kirinyaga County, police say.
Laikipia East police boss John Tarus told the Nation that Mr Geoffrey Gitobu’s death was reported by his brother on Monday afternoon.
“A brother of the deceased made a report at the police station on Monday afternoon. The report indicated that Mr Gitobu was driving within Nanyuki town when he felt dizzy and was rushed to a private hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival,” said Mr Tarus.
His sudden death led to a speculation frenzy on social media, coming days after he oversaw the election in Gichugu Constituency where at one time, goons had stormed the tallying centre at Kianyaga Boys High School claiming there was a plot to rig the elections. Mr Gitobu and security officers intervened and eventually managed to restore order.
His death also comes days after another returning officer, Mr Daniel Mbolu Musyoka, disappeared and was later found dead in Kajiado.
'No signs of foul play'
But on Tuesday, Laikipia Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Onesmus Towett said it was too early to treat the matter as murder, adding that the police were in the meantime treating the incident as a “sudden death”.
He noted that although the family of the deceased said he did not have any underlying medical condition, authorities would not link the death to foul play unless the autopsy report points to that.
“There are claims that an IEBC official was murdered. That is not the position and the case was reported as sudden death of someone who had collapsed in Nanyuki Town...We shall be opening an inquiry after the post-mortem is conducted,” said Mr Towett.
