Kevin Otieno: The link to late Frank Obegi and his friends revealed
The late Kevin Odhiambo (right) and his brother Alfred Odhiambo. Kevin was shot dead while his brother Alfred was abducted and later dumped in Thika.
As friends and relatives try to come to terms with the macabre execution of Kevin Otieno, 24, who was shot 36 times in Mihang’o, Utawala, in Nairobi County, it remains a mystery why his killers were so brazen.
The Nation over the weekend spoke to people who knew him.
They said he was generous almost to a fault and could even pay Sh1,000 for a motorbike ride worth Sh50 and not ask for his change.
“All I would want to know is who is the woman who went to the house of my son and picked up household items without informing the family. How come they have the key to where he was living and I believe that he lived alone?” said Mr Otieno’s Mr Johanes Ombinya.
It has also emerged that Mr Otieno was a close ally of Joseph Ng’endo Njau, who was eyeing the Njiru ward seat on a Jubilee ticket but was killed before the elections.
The body of the politician was found in the Kijabe forest alongside that of the “Kasarani three” – Frank Obegi, Elijah Omeke and Moses Nyachae.
From left: Frank Obegi, Fred Obare, Moses Nyachae and Elijah Omeka. The bodies of the four men from Kasarani in Nairobi were found in three different counties two weeks ago.
It has been established that Mr Otieno maintained a low profile on social media, just like his elder brother, Mr Alfred Odhiambo.
A senior detective with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Mr Odhiambo was driving his brother’s car, a Toyota Premio, in Mwiki, Kasarani sub-county, when it was sprayed with bullets.
The shooting happened two months ago and the vehicle was towed to the Kasarani Police Station.
Sprayed with bullets
“Those who sprayed the vehicle with the bullets believed that it was Mr Otieno who was driving it and not his brother,” said the officer, who spoke in confidence as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
“Later, a demand, which was never honoured, was made before the vehicle could be removed from the station’s yard.”
The killers of Mr Ng’endo seem to have had a clear plan to end his life. Nation investigations reveal that he was linked to drug trafficking in the city.
In 2019, Mr Ng’endo was arrested and found in possession of five kilograms of heroin. He was seized in Westlands, Nairobi, when he fell into a police dragnet shortly after returning from a trip to Kampala, Uganda.
At the time, police said he had gone to Kampala to procure the drugs, which he had hidden inside papayas.
“Joseph Njau Ngendo was arrested within the Westlands area on his return from Kampala, Uganda … he had left Nairobi on Wednesday night travelling by MASH bus,” a police report said.
Police, who said Mr Ng’endo was part of a larger heroin distribution network in Nairobi, believe he procured the narcotics from a Nigerian-based in Kampala.
They also said Mr Ng’endo was a frequent traveller to Uganda through the Busia border crossing. He allegedly procured the drugs from the neighbouring country and sold them to users in Nairobi.
He had an ongoing case at a Jomo Kenyatta International Airport court.
“In early February 2019, [Mr Ng’endo] made two other trips to Uganda, where he is suspected to have hammered a deal with his Nigerian drug associates,” police said in a 2019 report.
Drug-dealing
Mr Ng’endo, the authorities say, masks his drug-dealing activities in legitimate business and charity work.
“When not dealing drugs [Mr Ng’endo] works part-time as an anti-drug abuse campaigner. He regularly visits schools and social gatherings to give talks against drug abuse.”
It is believed that his killers must have tortured him into naming members of his drug-trafficking gang.
A crime buster known as Lone Survivor, who runs a Facebook page, wrote immediately after Mr Otieno was killed that he had been warned repeatedly but had refused to change his ways.
“I even called him personally and he never listened to what I had told him,” he posted.
It was after he was warned by Lone Survivor that Mr Otieno moved into a new house. He was killed a few metres from the house while members of the public watched.
Mr Otieno was killed on a Friday, September 23, as he was making a call that had lasted 30 minutes, while a woman with him waited a short distance away.
The Nation is in possession of a video clip that captured how he was sprayed with bullets. One of the killers even kicked him with his foot to ascertain that he had died.
Those who witnessed the killing say two of the gunmen, who were carrying big guns and pistols on their waistbands, also shot him in the eyes.
Same gunmen who shot Mr Otieno
“He had tried to run away but they shot at him, hit him on his shoulder and he fell with a thud. The gunmen then rushed to where he was lying and went on spraying bullets on him,” said a source who witnessed what happened.
The woman with him that day was different from another identified as Ms Evelyn Nduku, who was said to be pregnant with his child.
Ms Nduku and the brother of the deceased man were kidnapped by the same gunmen who shot Mr Otieno.
In Mr Odhiambo’s house, the men demanded to be given a firearm, just as they had demanded from Ms Nduku before they allegedly abducted her.
On Thursday, September 29, Mr Odhiambo was found beside a road in Thika town looking shocked and scared.
He was not ready to say anything about what happened. All he said was that he had been locked up in a house and did not interact with anyone for seven days.
Kayole sub-county Police Commander Paul Wambugu confirmed that the incident happened on Friday.
“Investigations are ongoing to establish the motive behind it and to apprehend those behind it,” he said.
