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Will Babu Owino ever shake off his social pariah tag?


His hot headed and arrogant character might have propelled him to rise through the political ranks, but in a blink of an eye Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino appears to have become the villain in his own story.

Back in the day, some would say Babu Owino (real name Paul Ongili), the veteran students’ leader at the University of Nairobi, is a violent man for issuing threats and leading students in street protests.

BIGGER TROUBLES

He has also been accused of using crude means to stem dissent during his reign as SONU chairman.

Fast forward to the present time and his troubles are growing bigger by the day.

His woes started in the early morning of January 17, 2020 when as most Kenyans were preparing themselves to go to their various places of work, Mr Owino was, with the help of his bodyguards ferrying, a wounded DJ Evolve (Felix Orinda) to hospital.

He was immediately arrested for shooting the DJ at B Club on Galana Road, Nairobi and taken to Kilimani Police Station to face charges of attempted murder.

Being the nonchalant leader that he is, Owino kept on assuring his supporters that all is well and the whole ordeal was a big misunderstanding.

However, the universe seemed to conspire against him and a video showing the actual moment he shot DJ Evolve leaked online.

B CLUB SHOOTING

In the video, Owino is seen standing with a group of people with his left hand holding the hose of a shisha pot.

A man, who is not visible in the video, appears to be trying to hold a conversation with the legislator.

A few second later, Owino lifts his right hand and fires at him.

But after spending more than a week in jail, Owino was released on a cash bail of Sh10 million. Since then, the legislator has been laying low and making inconspicuous appearances in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) rallies.

And when he takes the microphone to address the multitudes at the rallies his speech lacks the oomph and spirit that characterised his past public address.

He might appear to be stuck between a rock and a hard place but the youthful MP remains optimistic of better days ahead, a recent tweet he posted is anything to go by.

“The brighter the light the more the heat,” he tweeted.