• Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi said it was low of the ODM deputy party leader to make such remarks about his party boss.
• Oparanya said his main focus going forward would be to root for Luhya unity ahead of the 2027 polls after years of fruitless endorsements and support for Raila.
Image: FILE
Remarks by former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya that he is done plying the same political highway as ODM party boss Raila Odinga have started generating reactions.
Oparanya on Tuesday said his main focus going forward would be to root for Luhya unity ahead of the 2027 polls after years of fruitless endorsements and support for Raila.
"I'm offering myself from now to lead the unity drive of our people. I'm done with Raila and even if he bad-mouths me, God forbid, he knows, he will not be forgiven," Oparanya said.
But Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi said it was low of the ODM deputy party leader to make such remarks about his party boss.
His response was curt. "Very cheap of you Mr. Governor," Abdullahi said.
Oparanya did not state whether his statement equated a defection from the ODM party, but his remarks could signal more trouble for Raila.
The ODM leader, still smarting from a fifth presidential loss at the August polls, heavily relied on Oparanya to rally the Western region to vote for him.
This after his former allies Moses Wetang'ula and Musalia Mudavadi who previously played that role ditched him for President William Ruto ahead of the polls.
Oparanya's remarks could serve to widen cracks in the Azimio camp which already is facing dissenting voices from a section of Western leaders.
Some MPs from the region on Tuesday opened fresh political wars with Raila accusing him of denying them minority leadership slots in Parliament.
The MPs said Raila betrayed the community by excluding them from the positions.
Oparanya echoed their sentiments saying the community was also left out on the EALA slots, something he termed as a betrayal of the Mulembe nation.
In his address at a funeral in Mumia East, Oparanya revealed that he was vouching for former Shinyalu MP Justus Kizito to be elected to the House.
The new developments may force Raila back to the drawing board to steady the Azimio caravan considering he is facing similar rebellion in the Mt Kenya region.
A section of his allies who went against the Kenya Kwanza wave to back his fifth State House bid have announced plans to part ways with the doyen of opposition politics.
Led by former Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambungu and Jubilee secretary general Jeremiah Kioni, the leaders say they paid their political debt to Raila by helping him get over a million votes from Mt Kenya.
Their number one priority now, they said, is to unify the Central Kenya region by working with the Kenya Kwanza regime.
They said their unity of purpose for the good of the region is more important than settling individual political debts.
The debt is in reference to Raila's 2002 backing of late President Mwai Kibaki's State House bid with the famous 'Kibaki tosha' declaration.