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Senator Njoroge cries victim on gun drama at petrol station

By JOHN NGIRACHU February 8th, 2017 2 min read

The senator who was arrested for shooting at Vivo Energy boss Polycarp Igathe has claimed to be the victim of an attempt to frustrate his running of the petrol station where the incident happened on Tuesday.

In a post on Facebook, nominated senator Paul Njoroge also accused Mr Igathe of taking advantage of his proximity to power to intimidate him and other Kenyans in the fuel industry.

“He takes advantage of being close to the President after he became a member of a certain central region organization, hiding himself there and making many Kenyans suffer,” said Mr Njoroge.

The senator shot to fame last year after he told Deputy President William Ruto he is not assured of the support of the Mt Kenya region in the 2022 General Election.

SINISTER MOTIVE

He accused Mr Igathe of having a sinister motive in raiding the petrol station on Tuesday.

“His area field manager within Rift Valley colluded with a business man in Naivasha to forcefully take away my Petrol station which I was licensed to operate and which I have spent millions of shillings to invest in,” said Mr Njoroge.

The senator insisted that Mr Igathe’s move to debrand the petrol station was in defiance of a court order.

Mr Igathe told journalists on Tuesday that the station has been under probation since November and that it had been out of fuel for three weeks and had been running with no working capital.

Mr Njoroge made the long post on his Facebook page hours after a cameraman captured on video the moment he cocked a pistol and appeared to shoot at Mr Igathe, who was at the time looking away from him.

The petrol station near Karai was the centre of drama during the day on Tuesday as men hired by Mr Igathe clashed with others hired by the senator to protect the petrol station.

HIRED GOONS

“It was after stones were thrown to me after the goons Polycarp had hired started charging at me, that made me fire in the air as I could not have run to take cover due to my physical challenge,” said Mr Njoroge.

The senator uses a walking stick.

Mr Njoroge claimed he resisted an attempt to give a kickback during the signing of the contract with Vivo Energy, which operates the Shell brand in the country.

He said a businessman in Naivasha keen to take over the petrol station has been colluding with pump technicians to make sure 80 per cent of the pumps at the station have not been working.