•Tuju however said the meeting was not at 3am as the affidavit filed by Commissioner Abdi Guliye said.
•"I'd like to start by admitting that I was at Bomas of Kenya several times and the meeting which they say took place at 3 O'clock.... it was 4am," he said.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
Azimio Executive Director Raphael Tuju on Sunday admitted that he met with the IEBC chairperson Wafula Chebukati on August 15.
In the meeting, other IEBC commissioners were also present.
Tuju however said the meeting was not at 3am as the affidavit filed by Commissioner Abdi Guliye said.
"I'd like to start by admitting that I was at Bomas of Kenya several times and the meeting which they say took place at 3 O'clock happened at 4am," he said.
Tuju said he met with Chebukati to discuss on reports he had received on swapping of form 34As.
This was after he established that Guliye was not in a position to address the issue.
"The issue had brought up with him (Guliye) was that I had received intelligence from one of the IEBC officials, who complained that some form 34As were being brought down and they were being replaced by other form 34As," he said.
The director said the official did not know the exact location the swapping was happening.
He said after he got the report, he forwarded it to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), who had its officers interview the official.
Tuju said the official said he had brought the issue up with IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan who brushed him off with a threat.
"This gentleman was so terrified and he actually mentioned the case that he had been threatened by Marjan when he brought it up with him that he should not play with him, he will know who Marjan is," he said.
Tuju said the official further took the issue up with one of his seniors, who later told him(Tuju) that their hands were tied.
This prompted him to look for Chebukati.
Tuju said that morning, Chebukati had directed a senior police officer, to not let him in.
"He actually physically blocked me from trying to get into IEBC proceedings at Bomas of Kenya that day," he said adding that he used the back door to get in.
He was however barred from seeing the IEBC chairperson as he was told he was busy receiving reports from Returning Officers (ROs).
The former Jubilee Secretary General said by then, Chebukati had ordered all County ROs to report to him first before the papers were verified.
"I had concerns about that because he was closed in that room with Mr Molu (Commissioner Molu Boya) and Mr Marjan and therefore it was obvious to me that something opaque was taking place," he added.
Tuju said he insisted and managed to get into the office and raised the matters with the officials.
"I brought this matters up and he told me he was busy, he's got too many ROs waiting for him, so he will not be able to attend to me. So he told me to come later," Tuju said.
The executive director said he was taken back and forth several times.
He added that he left and came back at 8 O'clock but he was told to come back at 2 O'clock.
"I came back at 2 and he was sleeping.. So I waited until 4am. That is the time that I drew the attention of somebody like Amos Wako, who is a personal friend, and a few others, that we should go and confront him."
Tuju dismissed the claims that when they finally met he made offers to the officials.
"In the meeting, we were ten of us in that room and for him to claim that I made some offers to him is a tarradiddle; petty lie....I want Chebukati to explain to me, to Kenyans when he came to a secret location to see me in Karen, what that discussion was about?."