Nairobi, Kenya, Jan 22-Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua now says that the former administration plotted to execute social media strategist Dennis Itumbi for leaning towards President William Ruto who had fallen out with his then boss Uhuru Kenyatta.
Itumbi had been working at State House during the first term of Kenyatta’s regime but shifted to the Ruto, the then Deputy President’s office where he continued to work.
“There was a meticulous plot in place to execute this young man” (Itumbi). His kidnappers treated him inhumanely as they planned his execution, but because there is God, people raised alarm through social media, forcing his tormentors to abandon the plot,” Gachagua said of Itumbi’s abduction.
Itumbi was abducted by people believed to have been police officers who tortured him and released him, leaving with serious injuries. He was later rescued by a boda boda rider and taken to hospital.
On Sunday, Gachagua, who spoke at Itumbi’s Kirinyaga backyard said the initial plan was to kill him but was dropped due to social media pressure.
While recounting the events on the day of Itumbi’s kidnapping, Gachagua stated that the blogger owes his survival to God and Kenyans, noting that his execution had been sanctioned by powerful forces in the previous regime.
He went on to say that looking into the “crimes” meted on Kenyans by the Uhuru Kenyatta-led administration, it would take time for some of the victims including himself to forgive their perpetrators.
Gachagua admitted that he is still finding it difficult to forgive his tormentors, but swore to put in the effort.
“Bishop you have asked us to forgive, but some things are hard to shake off. Our hearts are still heavy,” he said.
Itumbi, who shifted his allegiance to President Ruto after a fallout with Uhuru, was abducted from a barbershop in Kiambu, tortured and dumped in Lucky summer by people believed to have been state agents on December 2021.
He would later be rescued by a Good Samaritan and taken to hospital where he was treated of serious leg injuries.
Last month, a year after his ordeal Itumbi said that he had forgiven his tormentors who almost killed him.
“I forgive all those who wronged me. I forgive the senior security officers who abducted and tortured me,” Itumbi said this week when he hosted a chapati forum that involved frying chapatis for distribution to the disadvantaged ahead of Christmas, “I am now very happy and this event is to remember the events of that fateful night when they wanted to kill me,”Itumbi said on December 25.
