Dennis Itumbi narrates abduction ordeal, Twitter users poke holes in his story

Former State House digital strategist Dennis Itumbi was abducted on December 23, 2021. [File, Standard]

Former digital and diaspora messaging officer at the President’s office, Dennis Itumbi, took to social media on Thursday to recount his ordeal at the hands of alleged abductors.

Itumbi was allegedly kidnapped at a barbershop in Thindigua, Kiambu County on December 23, 2021. He would, a few hours later, be found abandoned at Lucky Summer, Nairobi County.

The digital strategist, who has since shifted allegiance to Deputy President William Ruto, now claims he was abducted and assaulted for supporting the DP.

“You must change your political persuasion to match that of the boss,” Itumbi claimed one of his captors, a police officer, told him after stopping off at Lucky Summer.

“'Who is the boss’?” I shot back as they handcuffed me at the back,” Itumbi said in his post.

“Whoever it is, tell him we do not change our political belief, through force and threats. He has to learn the art of persuasion,” Itumbi cited this as his response.

He claims to have, thereafter, been slapped, punched and the handcuffs around his hands squeezed.

Itumbi narrates that his abductors, six in number, had bundled him into a Toyota Premio. At Kasarani, two pick-ups with “more police officers” arrived, and the cops meted out torture on him.

He claimed he was assaulted using “objects resembling hammers” and left nursing serious injuries.

“The two double cabins drove off, and I was left surrounded by trees, darkness and heavy rains. [At that time], I’m naked, only wearing socks,” he said.

He said he walked a significant distance, although in pain, to seek help from motorists, but none would pull over due to safety concerns.

“As a naked man, I knew I would have a tough time stopping any car at night.”

However, one motorist, who recognised him, pulled over and took him to the hospital for emergency medical attention. He identified him as Boniface Makokha.

“We made a stop-over at his (Makokha’s) house, where he got me a bedsheet to cover myself on our way to Uhai Neema Mission Hospital in Ruaraka,” said Itumbi.

He’d later be transferred to Nairobi West Hospital, where he was admitted for a couple of days. He was discharged on January 1, 2022.

Twitter reacts

Kenyans on Twitter poked holes in Itumbi’s story, raising questions that needed clarification.

Bobby Bobant said: “You were able to count the men, but you couldn’t see what they were hitting you with.”

Abdikarim Hussein, a skeptic, said Itumbi’s narrative would make for a good Netflix movie.

Itumbi sustained fractured legs during the ordeal, and it’s one of the health problems he was treated for at the Nairobi West Hospital.

Online users wondered how he managed to walk on fractured legs from where he’d been abandoned to the road where he met Boniface Makokha, the Good Samaritan.

The Standard reached Itumbi to comment on the responses that needed clarification, but his phone was offline.

Police said they had launched investigations into the circumstances surrounding the abduction of Itumbi, asking Kenyans to refrain from speculation.

The findings of the probe, if any, are yet to be made public.