Raila Regret's Backing Uhuru's Candidate Igathe for Nairobi Gubernatorial Seat

During a recent address to religious leaders in Nairobi, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga revealed the internal power struggle within Azimio leading up to the 2022 General Election.

In an interview on Wednesday, Raila disclosed that had the party selected a more strong-willed opponent, they would have successfully captured all the highly-coveted posts in Nairobi County. Raila owned up to his disappointment in supporting business executive Polycarp Igathe for the Nairobi governor role. He deeply regrets the misjudgment he made that still affects him to date. Igathe's nomination as the rival against the UDA party governor Johnson Sakaja was majorly due to former President Uhuru Kenyatta's persuasion since he heads the Azimio council.

According to Raila, their loss in the gubernatorial election was not due to their lack of qualified contenders, but rather the fact that their chosen nominee was not the suitable choice. He points out that it is confusing they succeeded triumphantly in the senate, women's representative, and presidential contests, but faltered in this critical position. He maintains that they could have won with a convincing margin should they have made a careful selection.

The corporate executive emerged victorious in the bid for the governor seat, surpassing Wanyonyi who possessed a reputed standing against UDA’s candidate Sakaja. Wanyonyi, who initially intended to run for Raila’s ODM Party, stepped down at the request of Raila to instead become Igathe’s deputy. In the end, however, Wanyonyi resolved to campaign for re-election as MP for Wetlands. As for his former prospective co-runner, Igathe selected Philip Kaloki as his running mate from the Wiper Party.

Raila voiced his discontent with the failure of the coalition to secure the Nairobi governorship, expressing his belief that a more favourable candidate could have been selected. Nonetheless, the Azimio coalition did achieve success in obtaining other significant positions within the county. For example, Sifuna was elected as Senator and Passaris managed to retain her Woman Representative seat. Sifuna, who attended the event, praised Wanyonyi for his steadfast support throughout the 2022 elections.