Slain Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif ‘interviewed’ John Allan Namu on investigative story
Kenyan journalist John Allan-Namu says he never met his slain Pakistani colleague Arshad Sharif in Nairobi.
Sharif was murdered in Nairobi on Sunday night in an incident that has zoomed international attention towards Nairobi for controversial reasons.
Via a tweet, Namu, a renowned investigative journalist, has, however, conceded he’d worked with the deceased.
Nairobi News understands Sharif was working on an explosive investigative documentary on corruption, titled as “Behind Closed Doors”, that featured Namu.
I am sorry to hear about Arshad's death. I was interviewed for the documentary but he and I never met or worked together.
— John-Allan Namu (@johnallannamu) October 24, 2022
Police reports claim that Arshad's death was as a result of a shooting in a case of mistaken identity.
— John-Allan Namu (@johnallannamu) October 24, 2022
Namu is known for producing a number of thought-provoking investigative reports including circumstances surrounding the death of former Kenya vice-president George Saitoti, and the terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi.
Police say Sharif, also an investigative journalist, was killed by officers after he refused to stop at a roadblock that had been ‘erected by stones’ around Kitengela, some 30km from the capital Nairobi.
According to a Police report, the deceased journalist and his brother were driving from Magadi town to Nairobi when they were flagged down at a roadblock being manned by a group of police officers.
The roadblock was erected to intercept a car that was similar to the one Sharif and his brother were driving in.
The other car was reportedly under surveillance by authorities in relation to a theft and missing person incident.
The news of Sharif’s death was first announced via social media by his wife Javeria Siddique, leading to a social media uproar among Pakistani citizens.
Now Kenyans have also come out to share their sentiments on the trending matter with a section of them claiming that it was an alleged conspiracy by the Pakistani government against the Kenyan government.
Below are some of the reactions by Kenyans;
The Kenyan police collaborated with the Pakistan intelligence to take him out of the picture, he was investigating the corrupt leaders in pakistan in a documentary
— Dennis CBS, EGH (@dennis14204) October 24, 2022
The APB is in pangani about a kidnapped child but mistaken identity is in Kajiado inbound to Nairobi?
Who is fooling who?
— Alex Thairu (@scarredtissue) October 24, 2022
How exactly do they know that? Was it them? And who were they targeting instead? And of all road users on magadi road that evening, the mistaken identity had to be on that particular journalist?
— Dr. Ian Oyaro, BVM, MSc, PhD. (@Ian4oyarow) October 24, 2022
So, You want to say that Arshad Sharif who was taken off-air, threatened, forced to flee his own country, frequently changed his locations abroad to avoid death threats was killed mistakenly?
— Khadija (@Khadija19115637) October 24, 2022
The guy was being tracked from Dubai, this was a perfect spot because they could easily put the blame to the Kenyan govt because he was doing a corruption investigation, who's culprits are Kenyans. Sounds this was the perfect spot for the Pakistan gvt to bring him down.
— MilesCoded (@japxag) October 24, 2022