Abel Bitok goes after X users linking him to abductions
Plainclothes police officers arrest demonstrators in Nairobi on June 6, 2023, during protests against the Finance Bill 2023.
What you need to know:
- He wants the DCI to take action against the two social media users, whose posts he says contravene the Cyber Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, Section 27, because they are "false and malicious".
Abel Kiprop Bitok, the former police officer accused of running a government kidnap squad, has asked the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Mohamed Amin, to investigate two social media users who published his personal details and photographs.
He has refuted the social media posts claiming he is the head of the unit accused of abducting government critics.
According to public records, Mr Bitok resigned from the DCI two years ago, where he had worked as a fraud investigator in the Economic and Commercial Crimes Unit.
In a letter to the DCI from his lawyers, Ham. K. Lagat Advocates, Mr Bitok has lodged a formal complaint against the two for allegedly tarnishing his name after former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua said last week that there is a building in Nairobi where a certain Mr Abel heads an alleged abduction unit.
He wants the DCI to take action against the two social media users, whose posts he says contravene the Cyber Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, Section 27, because they are "false and malicious".
“We formally lodge a complaint against Daniel Onyango (@oduk) and @DanChepta for cyber harassment and demand that action be taken against them for exposing our client to danger through defamation and harassment,” said Brian Kipruto, a lawyer at the law firm.
“This cyber harassment has exposed him to significant risk of harm considering the public ire this subject of abductions has drawn.”
The lawyer said that on December 27, 2024, Mr Onyango posted the LinkedIn profile of their client, Abel Kimutai Bitok.
The profile shows that Mr Bitok is a fraud investigator at the DCI, a post he left two years ago, his lawyers clarified.
“Our client resigned from the National Police Service on September 26, 2022. Further, the social media posts have exposed our client to significant risk due to the public ire the abductions have elicited,” he said.
The lawyers attached a letter entitled "Resignation from National Police Service Under 24 Hours Rule", which Mr Bitok submitted on September 23, 2022 to inform his superiors of his resignation.
According to this letter, his resignation was accepted by the Inspector-General of Police on September 26, 2022.
“On behalf of the Director, DCI, I take this opportunity to thank you for the service you rendered to the Kenyan Government while you served as a police officer and wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours,” concluded the letter signed by Francis K. Ndiema, on behalf of the DCI boss.
Mr Bitok argues that social media user @oduk falsely and maliciously linked him to the recent spate of abductions.
In a separate letter of demand to Mr Onyango, the complainant said the post was interpreted by viewers in its plain and ordinary meaning to mean that Mr Bitok was the person responsible for the reported cases of abductions in the country.
“Your post, by implication, is also a threat to our client’s person and to his immediate family. The statements and publications by yourself are false, defamatory, and malicious and have exposed our client to significant harm considering the public ire these abductions have drawn across the country,” the letter said.
The lawyers have demanded that Mr Onyango “immediately cease and desist from making further defamatory statements regarding our client”.
They also want him to retract the “defamatory posts about Abel Kimutai Bitok and issue an unqualified apology to him on the same X platform upon which we will discuss the issue of damages”.
“Take notice, if you do not comply with our demands within five days, we have firm instructions to institute legal proceedings against you without any further reference to you," the demand letter said.
The recent upsurge in abductions of young people by suspected state security agents has sparked outrage among Kenyans, who are demanding the release of the victims and the arrest and prosecution of those involved.
Recent statements by Mr Gachagua, revealing the possible location, command structure and operations of the abduction squad, have sent shockwaves across the country.
The former deputy questioned President William Ruto's silence on the abductions, an issue that has gripped Kenya in the last six months.
“This unit comprises personnel from several government agencies but is not under police supervision. Abel is a cousin of a very senior government official. We will reveal his second name in a week.
“These people are not answerable to the police commander. Your guess is as good as mine as to who the commander is,” he said.
