Nairobi News

Former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko has dumped Azimio la Umoja – One Kenya Coalition presidential candidate Raila Odinga. In an interview on Friday, Sonko promised to explain why he no longer supports Odinga’s presidential bid. He also said he will announce his next move on Saturday.

Sonko made the announcement while responding to a question on whether he still believes Mr Odinga is the best presidential candidate.

“He was. That is a story for tomorrow. I will do another press conference tomorrow. He was even Martha Karua was lakini unajua mimi pia niko na jicho pevu yangu and I know what has transpired. I know who has affected this judgement of the Supreme Court,” Sonko said.

At the same time, Sonko has blamed certain politicians whom he did not mention by name for his current political woes. Additionally, Sonko has said he will support UDA’s Hassan Omar for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat if he is barred from running for the seat.

Sonko’s statement comes amid speculations that he may be considering backing Deputy President William Ruto.

Mid this month, the Supreme Court barred the flamboyant politician from running for the Mombasa gubernatorial seat. The top judges, led by Chief Justice Martha Koome, ruled that Sonko was properly removed from office, since the impeachment proceedings before the County Assembly and the Senate were properly conducted.

Sonko later said that Koome should not have been part of the bench having publicly made her stance on the case.

“She was on record on Spice FM stating that I should not be allowed to run. The court wrote to me stating that the matter would be decided by a five-judge bench, so I thought I was safe and that there was no need for me to file a petition challenging the presence of Koome. When I arrived in court, we found her seated on the bench. We asked her to withdraw herself from the hearing, but she refused,” Sonko said.