Kenyan Eala MP Simon Mbugua. He was linked to the gang that attacked a
Nairobi businesman in broad daylight. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The police in Kenya on Tuesday arrested a lawmaker, who
represents the country in the regional East African Legislative Assembly
(Eala), over recent attacks on a Nairobi businessman.
MP
Simon Mbugua was grilled over the assault on ex-Nairobi business
official Timothy Muriuki at the Central Police Station in Nairobi's city
centre.
The station's police boss Mr Robinson Mboloi said officers were in the early stages of their investigations.
Violence
Five men were captured on camera roughing up Mr Muriuki before they ejected him out of a city hotel last week.
The
attackers claimed Mr Muriuki, in the aborted press conference, was
about to tarnish Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko’s name and they
could not allow him to address journalists.
They grabbed Mr Muriuki and forcefully led him out of Hotel
Boulevard as he pleaded with them to let him finish reading his
statement.
They would hear none of
this and at some point in the scuffle, they argued between themselves on
whether to throw Mr Muriuki into the hotel’s swimming pool.
Mr
Muriuki was thrown out of the hotel premises where other men on
motorcycles formed a circle round him and started shoving and beating
him.
They even pushed him into a puddle of dirty water on the pavement.
On Saturday, the National Police Service placed a Ksh2.5 million ($25,000) bounty on the five suspects.
Police said the suspects had gone into hiding and asked the public to share information that could lead to their arrest.
Street names
An investigation by the Nation established that the five suspects are popularly known as Swaleh, Suleiman Manyange, Mike Mbanya and Bonny.
Some Nairobi County insiders linked the men to Mr Mbugua.
But he denied any involvement.
“As
everybody has rightfully described them, they are goons,” he said of
the five men. “Goons are goons, they can be hired by anybody. I used to
hang around City Hall [Nairobi County headquarters] when I was jobless,
but I left for Eala,” he added.
Mr Sonko, Mr Mbugua added, is his friend. “There is no way I can send people to attack anyone supporting him.”
No comments :
Post a Comment