• Uhuru endorsed Raila as his preferred successor after years of working with Ruto with whom he was elected twice in 2013 and 2017.
• Uhuru and Ruto fell out shortly after the disputed 2017 presidential elections after Uhuru entered a truce with Raila on March 9, 2018.
Image: FILE
Senior counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi now claims outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta has a bigger stake in the presidential petition than both President-elect William Ruto and Raila Odinga.
The outspoken lawyer avers that this is because the petition which seeks to overturn Ruto's win presents Uhuru with the last chance to stop the Deputy President from succeeding him.
"Outgoing President Kenyatta has a bigger stake in the outcome of the Presidential petition before the Supreme Court than both President-Elect William Ruto and Hon Raila," Abdullahi said in a tweet on Thursday.
"The case presents the last desperate/suicidal chance to stop President Ruto. Uhuru looms large over the case," he said.
Uhuru endorsed Raila as his preferred successor after years of working with Ruto with whom he was elected twice in 2013 and 2017.
Uhuru and Ruto fell out shortly after the disputed 2017 presidential elections after Uhuru entered a truce with Raila on March 9, 2018.
The two bitter rivals turned friends said the suspension of hostilities between them through a handshake was meant to bury hatred between the Uhuru and Odinga families and serve to unite Kenyans.
The move didn't go down well with Ruto and his allies who responded by criticising the Handshake brothers every chance they got.
The strained relations between Uhuru and Ruto deteriorated further when Uhuru endorsed Raila in March this year and launched scathing attacks against the DP by warning the electorate against electing a thug.
"Restrain yourselves from electing a thief, I don't want to hear you crying and regretting. There are people who have funny stories but they are as sweet as honey and so convincing, but they are poison," Uhuru said when launching a dam in Gatundu North on August 1.
On the same day, Ruto responded by telling Uhuru that he embarrassed and let Kenyans down by endorsing the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya presidential candidate.
"Hata wewe rais saa zingine unatuchomea (sometimes Mr President you embarrass us),” Ruto said.
The DP said he has no problem with Uhuru even after he abandoned him despite having stood by him as a friend in two consecutive elections.
“But afterwards, you finally saw none of us is capable of leading this country until you settled on huyu mzee wa kitendawili,” he said in reference to Raila.
Their public outbursts worsened and got more personal days before the August 9 general election with Ruto warning Uhuru not to harm his children.