Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
On July 12, at around 9.45pm, Mr Patrick Gikonyo was driving his black Toyota Harrier along Suguta Road in Nairobi. The man had left a hotel in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa estate and was headed home when a lone gunman on a motorbike accosted him.
A bullet shattered the driver’s window, missing its intended target but grazing his right hand, then exiting through the windscreen.
Mr Gikonyo is no ordinary man in the streets of Nairobi. He is the former Nairobi County head of Intelligence, and is among the 13 spies that Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has sensationally claimed were redeployed from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) under controversial circumstances.
On Sunday night, Mr Gachagua alleged Mr Gikonyo had survived an assassination attempt.
A veteran intelligence officer, Mr Gikonyo rose through the ranks to his last post as Principal Intelligence Officer.
He is now an aide in the office of the deputy president after he was kicked out of his NIS job under unclear circumstances in April this year.
A seasoned intelligence officer, Mr Gikonyo was reportedly fired from the agency after he allegedly fell out with some of his bosses at NIS headquarters in Ruaraka.
After leaving the corner office at the Nairobi Area County Intelligence Offices in Nyati House, Mr Gikonyo found a soft landing at the DP’s office from where he had been operating quietly until the public remarks by Mr Gachagua thrust him into the limelight.
“Some 13 NIS officers from Mt Kenya were removed and were sent to ministries. I took one officer to my office. There was a recent assassination attempt on him. He was shot on the shoulder in a bid to sell me fear,” Mr Gachagua stated in a live television interview on Sunday.
Reached for comment
Yesterday, Nation reached out to Mr Gikonyo for comment about the incident.
At first, he said he was not ready to speak about the matter. But pressed further, he responded: “The issues are with the police. Ask them.”
But when contacted, Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei said he had no knowledge of the incident.
"I am not aware," Mr Bungei told Nation on phone.
However, another officer familiar with the investigation said the police had concluded that the attack on Mr Gikonyo “was just another robbery.”
What really happened?
On the fateful day, Mr Gikonyo had slowed down while approaching a bump.
It is at that point that the gunman riding on a motorbike fired once aiming at the driver’s window.
Luckily, the bullet, which police sources say was fired by a high caliber gun, went through the driver’s door and exited on the windscreen.
Mr Gikonyo managed to speed off. Police sources say the bullet grazed his right hand palm.
The shooting was reported at Kilimani police station recorded in the Occurrence Book under OB 43/12/7.
When police in Kilimani established that the victim of the shooting was a former senior official in the intelligence service, the report was escalated to the Nairobi Area Police headquarters.
Mr Gikonyo met with senior Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) commanders as the probe got underway. After the meeting, he was assured of his security and also promised that the shooting would be investigated.
The statement by Mr Gachagua on Sunday is the second time he is speaking about the redeployment of 13 NIS officers he claimed were hounded over close links to him.
On July 1, the DP sensationally demanded the resignation of NIS boss Noordin Haji in the wake of anti-government protests that culminated in the invasion of Parliament and the killing of dozens.
Mr Gachagua then claimed NIS had let the government down by failing to accurately report on the unprecedented scale of protests against the Finance Bill, 2024, which the president subsequently ordered withdrawn.
“Had NIS briefed the President two months ago about how the people feel about the Finance Bill, 2024, so many Kenyans would not have died, property would not have been destroyed, offices would not have been destroyed. There would have been no mayhem but they slept on the job,” the deputy president said.
During the interview on Sunday, Mr Gachagua continued with the attack on NIS accusing the spy agency of playing politics.
The DP said he had informed the president how state security agencies were being used to settle political scores and undermine him.
He cited the attack on Mr Gikonyo and the redeployments of intelligence officers to the ministries alleging it was part of the scheme to silence him.
In May, a senior NIS officer Mr Tom Adala , who was said to have been battling depression, committed suicide at his home in Nairobi.
Mr Adala, an Assistant Director at NIS Headquarters, Ruaraka, was found dead inside his house on Kirichwa road, Kilimani.
His nephew reported to Kilimani police station that his uncle had shot himself in the head using a pistol.
The single bullet had gone through Adala’s head from the left side and exited on the right. His body was found in the servant quarters.
