ODM deputy party leader Hassan Joho has told Wiper Party to prepare for a bruising battle in the upcoming by-election in Embakasi South.
Wiper has asked ODM not to field a candidate and instead back its contender. The seat fell vacant after Julius Mawathe's 2017 election was nullified.
Mawathe ran on the Wiper party ticket but his win was challenged by ODM's Irshad Sumra.
This even as the Mombasa Governor accused Deputy President William Ruto of sponsoring attacks against him by rebel ODM MPs facing ouster from the party.
“We have a right to support our candidate in ODM and that is what we shall do. We shall be here to ensure we support Sumra until he wins this seat to help the people of Embakasi South,” Joho said.
The governor led ODM politicians in accompanying Sumra,to presented his nomination papers to IEBC at Anniversary Towers for the April 5 election.
Sumra will face Julius Mawathe of Wiper Party whose election was nullified by the Supreme Court last December.
Also in the race are KANU's Jafferson Kasungu and KNC's Rashid Minyong'a. President Uhuru Kenyatta's party has already has already announced it will not field a candidate.
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Last week, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyioka asked the ODM, a partner in the Nasa coalition to withdraw their candidate their candidate from the race.
But Joho said that the Raila Odinga-led party will not not heed to Kalonzo's call and asked Wiper to be prepared for a real contest in the by-election.
“They should be prepared because politics is a game we known and we have the people with us. So we will meet in the field. Let them prepare well because we are also prepared,” Joho said.
Responding to recent accusations by Malindi MP Aishwa Jumwa and her Mwambweni counterpart Suleiman Dori that he was the man behind their trouble in the ODM party, Joho said the legislators were DP Ruto's agents and dared him to come out and speak for himself.
“I know they have been sent by their master, William Ruto. So I want to tell William Ruto not to send his people. Come out and talk,” he said.
Jumwa and Dori are facing ouster from ODM after they allegedly defied the party and publicly supported Ruto's 2022 presidential bid.
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