ODM Congratulates Kolosh, brags about introducing him to serious politics

Raila Odinga-led Orange Democratic Party (ODM) has congratulated Jubilee Party Candidate Ahmed Kolosh for winning the Wajir West by-elections.

Kolosh retained his seat after Provisional results from all 75 polling stations indicated he had managed to garner 11,053 votes against KANU’s Ibrahim Sheikh’s 6, 532 votes.

ODM through its official twitter account wrote a congratulatory message to Kolosh.

The Party however indicated that it is the one that had introduced Kolosh to serious politics.

“Congratulations Hon. Ahmed Kolosh on recapturing the Wajir West parliamentary seat. We are glad to have been associated with you and introduced to serious politics. Time to serve your people now,” the message read.

IEBC has just handed Kolosh with his certificate from the Returning Officer, Mr. Maurice Raria, after being declared the duly elected Member of National Assembly for Wajir West Constituency.

Kolosh decamped from ODM after the Supreme Court nullified his election in January 2019.

A month later, Deputy President William Ruto received Kolosh at the Jubilee party headquarters and announced that he would be their frontrunner in the Wajir West by-election.

The Wajir West seat fell vacant following a successful petition filed by Abdirahman Ibrahim Mohammed of KANU.

ODM had intended to field another candidate Mohamed Yussuf but pulled out at the last minute after what they termed as ‘consultations’ with the Jubilee party leaders.

“Just as Jubilee did in the three recent by-elections, ODM will not take sides in the contest in Wajir West,” a letter from Junet Mohammed, the party’s Director of Elections said.

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission had even cleared their candidate to contest for the seat.

However, the party indicated that they had convinced Yusuf to step down for Kolosh.

In a twist of events, Yusuf denied the claims from his party and was backed by a section of leaders from Wajir.

A statement from the Degodia community released on April 10, 2019 insisted that the Wajir community consulted with DP Ruto on their own.

“The decision had nothing to do with the ODM party or any of its functionaries, as some would allege….We, as leaders from the region do not condone deceit and/or conmanship.

“The efforts of the community cannot be taken for granted or rubbished by those who do not know the hours, energy and resources put in this,” the statement from the political and business leaders said.

On his part, Prof. Yusuf echoed the sentiments of this community leaders deciding to announce that he had defected to the Jubilee party.

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