Raila’s team disown ‘Uncle Moody’s death’ tweet
Cord leader Raila Odinga’s team has disowned a tweet attributed to the former Prime Minister sending a message of condolence to former Vice President Moody Awori.
A screenshot of the tweet, which appears to have been sent through Mr Odinga’s verified Twitter account (@RailaOdinga), was shared Tuesday night on social media, WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook.
The tweet read: “Kenya has lost a hero, he was a great leader and patriotic Kenyan. May my brother Moody Awori RIP.”
ODM director of public communications Philip Etale asked Kenyans to ignore the tweet.
VERIFIED TWITTER HANDLE
“Raila Amolo Odinga has only one verified Twitter handle which is @RailaOdinga. Please ignore tweets from imposters using his name,” he tweeted.
Some had suggested that the former Prime Minister’s account had been hacked while others said his Twitter handle had been ‘photoshopped’ onto the tweet.
Reports in the Kenyan media have since established rumours of Awori’s death area hoax.
The tweet came just hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta’s digital communication team was involved in an embarrassing incident of tweeting condolence message to slain police officers in Yumbis Al Shabaab attack only for the Interior ministry to announce that no officer had lost his life. Later, the ministry confirmed the death of one officer.