Hassan Joho's alleged arrest alongside two MPs on Friday was aimed at intimidating opposition leaders, ODM has said.
The Mombasa Governor and MPs Abdulswamad Nassir (Mvita)
and Rashid Bedzimba (Kisauni) were allegedly detained at Mombasa CID headquarters.
Joho, who went to visit a relative arrested earlier in the day, is said to have caused a disturbance.
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ODM acting Secretary general
Agnes Zani said the county chief, who is ODM deputy party
leader, was manhandled harassed and embarrassed.
Zani said in a statement on Saturday that Joho was being humiliated by the government as he refused to join Jubilee and because of firmly defending his people.
"It is an open secret that Joho’s woes began the day he rejected overtures by the government and their agencies to lead a mass defection from the opposition to Jubilee,' she said.
"The fact that [he] commands massive support among the people of the Coast, for his bravery to stand against Jubilee's lies and propaganda, has made him an enemy of the state hence the harassment."
The Governor lectured President Uhuru Kenyatta for failing to launch fresh project at the Coast, a dressing down that some said resulted in the withdrawal of his security.
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Zani, who is a Nominated Senator, asked the Jubilee government to
serve the people equally and embrace the basic democratic tenets of fair competition at all times.
"Harassment of our leaders shall be resisted," she said, adding ODM leaders read mischief in statements by government spokesman Eric Kiraithe and the Coast regional coordinator Nelson Marwa on the security matter.
She said the statements were malicious and may have led to the arrest of Joho and the MPs.
Marwa said only those who deal in drugs require many guns to protect their trade and that Joho was only playing victim in his security withdrawal saga.
He said Joho has employed tactics in his own favour yet all governors have been affected by security changes.
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Kiraithe termed Joho a a “political conman full of retrogressive thinking”, who is keen on discrediting projects for undeserved political mileage.
Kiraithe said the government was on course to achieve Vision 2030 which he noted
could have remained a dream if it were not for Jubilee.
“I pity citizens of a county whose governor can introduce a new project in the name of ‘my’ project,” he said.
Joho, Nassir and Bedzimba were
released after depositing a Sh20,000 cash bail. Joho thanked the youth who went to the station to demand his release.
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