Tuju Admits to Meeting IEBC Chair Chebukati on August 15

Raphael Tuju, the executive director of Azimio, on Sunday said that he had a meeting with Wafula Chebukati, the head of the IEBC, on August 15.

Other IEBC commissioners attended the meeting as well.

However, Tuju asserted that the meeting was not held at 3am as stated in the affidavit submitted by Commissioner Abdi Guliye.

“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.

Read: Azimio Has Watertight Evidence To Overturn Ruto’s Win – Tuju

Tuju claimed that he met with Chebukati to talk about reports of the swapping of Form 34As.

He did this after determining that Guliye was unable to handle the situation.

“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 former Jubilee secretary general claimed that the official was unaware of the precise area where the switching was taking place.

Read Also: DP Ruto Used MPs Ichung’wa, Duale to Blackmail President Uhuru – Tuju

Upon receiving the report, he claimed to have passed it to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which then had officers examine the official.

According to Tuju, the official claimed that when he brought up the matter with IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan, the latter dismissed him 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 added.

Tuju claimed that the official brought up the matter with one of his seniors, who later informed him that their options were limited.

Read Also: IEBC Submits All Election Forms Ahead of Supreme Court Hearing

He then started looking to hold a discussion with Chebukati.

Tuju claimed that Chebukati had told a senior police officer not to let him in that morning.

“He actually physically blocked me from trying to get into IEBC proceedings at Bomas of Kenya that day,” he said.

He added that he used the back door to get in.

Read Also: Omtatah Alleges IEBC Did Not Tally 140,028 Votes

However, he was denied a meeting with the IEBC chairperson because he was allegedly preoccupied with gathering reports from returning officers (ROs).

Chebukati had, according to the former Rarieda MP, instructed all County ROs to report to him before verifying any paperwork.

“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.

He managed to get in and raised the issues with the electoral agency officials.

Read Also: Gubernatorial Polls in Kakamega, Mombasa to be Held on August 29 – IEBC

“I brought these 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.

He also noted that he was repeatedly taken back and forth.

He continued by saying that although he went and returned at 8 o’clock, he was instructed to return 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.”

Read Also: IEBC Put Kenya to Shame – Raila Says

He also denied offering the commissioners money to alter the results in favour of Raila Odinga.

“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?”