A politician has gone to court to stop Nairobi blogger Robert Alai from publishing any defamatory statements against him. William Oduol claims that material meant to spoil his name on social media and the internet is still on Alai’s Facebook’s wall and there is likelihood that the blogger may publish further defamatory things against him.
Oduol claims Facebook users with access to the wall are making derogatory remarks against him as a result of Alai’s post. In his supporting affidavit, Oduol claims that last month, Alai, with intention to injure his reputation, published on one of his blogs: “William Oduols wife crying for justice, fears for her life”. He claims Alai uploaded photographs of a lady with a swollen bloody face claiming that she was Oduol’s wife and that he had beaten her up.
“The blog post instantly drew mixed reactions from thousands of people who accessed it through Alai’s Facebook wall,” he said. Oduol says it was malicious and intended to pit him against his constituents especially now that he has filed an election petition challenging the results for Siaya governor elections. He says the timing of the blog post shows a possibility of his political opponents working to gain political mileage over him in the event of a by-election.
Oduol contested for the Siaya governor’s seat in the March 4 election. He however lost the seat to ODM’s Cornel Rasanga. Alai was also in court yesterday for the hearing of a case in which he is charged with writing on a social media site, Twitter, that some high ranking IEBC officials and a High Court judge had a clandestine meeting at a hotel in Karen. He was taken to CID headquarters by police officers to record a statement regarding Oduol’s case.
