- The Azimio leader on Monday slammed his critics who have for weeks now been saying time is nigh for him to hang his boots.
- The agenda of Tuesday's meeting was not immediately established but the last time Raila chaired such a meeting, five rebel MPs were kicked out for working with the government.
Image: ODM/X
ODM leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday chaired a National Executive Committee meeting of the party a day after he dismissed those calling for his exit from the political arena.
The Azimio leader, thought by many as the enigma of Kenya's opposition politics, slammed his critics who have for weeks now been saying time is nigh for him to hang his boots.
"Some people have been saying that they will take me back to Bondo. I want to tell them that I know the way to Bondo better than them. That is my home and I know it better than anybody else," Raila said on Sunday.
"The day I decide to go back to Bondo, I will not seek permission from anyone. I will find my way there. Certainly, that time has not come; I'm still here, so let them shut up."
On Tuesday, Raila said the ODM party was focused.
"Party matters. ODM is focused. Kenya and Kenyans first," he said via a statement dispatched by the party via social media platform X.
Talks about Raila's possible exit from politics were lent credence after his elder brother Oburu Oginga insinuated that Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi would likely replace him as Luo Nyanza's kingpin.
The Siaya Senator later recanted the statement where he had said Wandayi had demonstrated growth under Raila's tutelage "like a mushroom on an ant hill".
"He has exhibited that, and as you can see, we are soon leaving the stage for people like him," Oginga said in early September.
He later said there was no political vacuum that needed to be filled by anyone since Raila was firm, politically fit, overwhelmingly good, and in charge.
On Saturday, lawyer and former deputy presidential candidate Willis Otieno said it was about time Luo Nyanza embraced the debate about Raila's exit.
While stating that his dream to become a deputy president was still alive, Otieno said he was in no way seeking to rival Raila as the Luo Kingpin.
"As Luos, our plan A is Raila. What about the day when he won't be there?" he asked while urging the region to strategise on picking a possible replacement.
Some like Embakasi East MP Babu Owino whose name has floated as a possible Raila successor dismissed the talk as 'treason'.
"I can never discuss succession politics when Baba (Raila) is still there because he is my leader, that amounts to 'treason'," he said.
Raila's daughter Winnie, Siaya Governor James Orengo, Nominated MP John Mbadi, former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero, Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o, his Homa Bay counterpart Gladys Wanga and ex-Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju are other names that have featured in the Raila succession politics.
The agenda of Tuesday's meeting was not immediately established but the last time Raila chaired such a meeting, five rebel MPs were kicked out for shifting loyalty and working with the Kenya Kwanza government.
Among them is Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo who also weighed in on the succession politics saying there should be a level playing ground for everyone to take a shot at becoming the next Nyanza supremo.
"I believe if Odinga is exiting the political scene, we should be allowed to fight for the same position because we have the potential," Odhiambo said while addressing his supporters in Gem on Sunday.
He intimated that despite being shown the door, he was still an ODM member and would in fact go for the secretary general post in the party, rise through the ranks and become the next Luo Nyanza kingpin after Raila.