Raila: The day I was arrested in Nigeria
ODM leader Raila Odinga arriving in Abuja, Nigeria on January 31, 2023 for the 2022 Leadership Conference.
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga has revealed how he was once arrested by police officers in Nigeria’s capital, Lagos.
Mr Odinga recalled an incident that back in 2003, when he was on his official duty in Nigeria as an election observer, when the police questioned him for being in a restricted area where members of the public had been banned due to the election process.
He said that his “resemblance” to the people of Nigeria is what made the police arrest him, only for his driver to intervene.
“One time I was arrested in Lagos when I was observing an election… I was told that don’t you know that today people are not allowed to be driving? The driver told him – I’m carrying Oga (my boss),” Mr Odinga said.
The former Prime Minister said that even after telling them that he was not a Nigerian, the policemen insisted that he was, and asked him to stop lying to them.
“Eventually when I showed them my passport, they realized I’m not a Nigerian,” Mr Odinga recounted.
The ODM party leader recalled the incident in his address during the 2022 Leadership Conference and Awards on Tuesday.
The conference comes ahead of the February 25 General Election in the West African country.
“We want to urge Nigerians to stand firm and to ensure that the voice of the people is respected. The voice of the people is the voice of God,” Mr Odinga said.
At the same time, the ODM leader reiterated that elite politicians subverted the will of the people in last year’s presidential election in Kenya.
On Sunday, before he left for Nigeria Mr Odinga said at a political rally at Jacaranda grounds, Nairobi that his Azimio coalition won the election, as he yet again cited a dossier from an anonymous whistleblower within the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
