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Migori Governor Okoth Obado had a secret love affair with his wife’s sister, The Nairobian has learnt.
Obado has prominently featured in the murder investigations of a university student who was believed to have been seven months pregnant with his baby, following the arrest of his close aides and subsequent interrogation by DCI detectives.
But the drama continues, as it now emerges the governor had a fling with Rhoda Odie Nyakwaka, the stepsister of his wife, Migori First Lady Hellen Obado.
The First Lady and Rhoda are born of the same father who got the latter after inheriting her widowed mother in Kadika village of Suna Central sub-county.
When Hellen discovered the shenanigans of her husband with Rhoda, she went bonkers even as Obado’s lawyer, Cliff Ombeta, insists they have never been an item.
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But a member of the Kadika Clan from Hellen’s side of the family told The Nairobian that Obado’s affair with Rhoda has remained an open secret for a long time.
The man claimed the affair started three years back when the governor employed Rhoda at the county headquarters in the catering department.
“He even gifted her a house in Nyasare estate within Migori town,” the relative added.
There were allegations Obado even got Rhoda pregnant but the pregnancy was allegedly terminated at the behest of angry relatives who accused her of crossing the blood line.
The paternal relatives who were against the affair reportedly summoned Rhoda and exerted pressure that she terminate the pregnancy when she was five months down the maternal path, a clan member intimated.
The meeting also resolved to have Rhoda relieved off her duties at the county as a cook in an acrimonious family fallout that left Hellen and Rhoda as bitter enemies.
A source at the county said Rhoda’s name was still on the payroll though.
The First Lady is said to have been very hurt by the affair and wanted nothing to do with Rhoda who is allegedly not welcome at the governor’s Rapogi home in Uriri sub-county.
“It is common knowledge that Hellen and Rhoda are not friends after she learnt of the affair,” a villager who chose anonymity owing to his closeness to the family said.
Contacted by The Nairobian, Rhoda denied the allegations that she is intimately involved with the governor.
She insisted that this was the first time she was hearing of the allegations and stated that she was not enemies with Hellen.
She also denied that the governor had bought her a house.
“Those are lies. Hellen is my sister and I have never had an affair with the governor,” Rhoda said. She has a child she got with a different man after high school in 2011.
The governor’s aides remained cagey about the matter. “On that issue, I am sorry, but I won’t talk for the governor,” said one of Obado’s close associates.
Ombeta defended the governor, dismissing the lover affair as hearsay.
“That is a cooked story. There is nothing like that, it’s just a rumour that is flying around,” he said.
Obado has been questioned over the gruesome murder of university student Sharon Otieno, whose body was found in a thicket in Oyugis, a day after being abducted alongside Nation journalist Barack Oduor.
The governor recorded a lengthy statement with the police, exonerating himself from the murder, while acknowledging that he had an affair with Sharon.
The late Sharon had three children from a previous relationship with high school teacher Bernard Okuta.
Her murder is said to have taken a toll on the governor’s health who is now on medication.
Ombeta denied the governor was admitted.
“That is not the true position. We are constantly in communication and there is no indication that he was in hospital,”said the lawyer.
Obado’s aides Michael Oyamo and Caspal Obiero alongside bodyguard Elvis Omondi have been interrogated.
Another person linked to Sharon’s killing is former Kanyadoto MCA Lawrence Mula.
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