Sudi flown to Nakuru in police chopper minutes after arrest

Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi (left) being flown to Nakuru after he surrendered to police in Uasin Gishu. He is expected to be arraigned tomorrow over hate speech. [Courtesy, Standard]

Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi has been airlifted to Nakuru minutes after he surrendered at Langas Police Station in Uasin Gishu County this morning. He has been booked at Nakuru Central Police Station. 
The legislator said on his Facebook page that he was being airlifted to Nairobi, but the chopper failed to make headway to the capital, and instead opted for Nakuru.
“I'm being airlifted to Nairobi. Will be landing at Wilson Airport shortly,” Sudi said moments after photos of him accompanied by other Jubilee politicians and his lawyers emerged online.
Earlier in the day, the MP said he surrendered to the police after getting reports from the media that they were after him.
 “As a law-abiding citizen, I have presented myself at Langas Police Station early this morning even before the officers arrive. It was unnecessary to be treated with a lot of drama by sending a contingent of police officers to my home. I was away the time police arrived at my place. Thank you all for standing with me,” he said.

In the OB reports, the MP, who was on the run for the better part of Friday and Saturday refuted claims that he had received summons from the police regarding his utterances. 
Police reports indicate that Sudi is wanted for hate speech, which is under investigation by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.
This is after he made remarks deemed abusive towards President Uhuru Kenyatta and his family recently, to which he vowed that he would not apologise over his utterances.
The legislator played a hardball even after the Deputy President William Ruto lashed at his statements saying that he and Emurua Dikirr MP Johana Ng’eno could have chosen respectable words to criticise the head of state.

Sudi has lined up a group of lawyers that will take to court to defend him over the impending charges.
They are Jane Masai, Richard Cheruiyot, Isaac Terer, Nathan Tororei and former Chief Registrar of Judiciary Gladys Shollei.

Uasin Gishu Women Rep Gladys Shollei (left) and Nandi Governor Stephen Sang (right) escorting Oscar Sudi as the MP was being flown to Nairobi after surrendering to police in Eldoret. [Courtesy, Standard]

Running battles

Sudi’s arrest comes after drama and running battles involving the police and his constituents who tried to bar the officers from gaining access to his home to arrest him.

He was aided by police to escape as a team of officers arrived at his home.

During the siege, one of the MP’s supporter was shot and injured while a police officer was attacked by a machete. Two police officers attached to the Presidential Escort Unit were arrested after they were found in the MP’s compound. They had not declared they were police officers all along as the siege went on before the MP escaped from the compound.

It later emerged a third officer who is a senior commander of the presidential guards had escaped alongside the MP. This was after his gun was found in one of the cars that were parked in the MP’s compound. The other two officers’ guns were confiscated as they were taken in for a grilling.

They said they were on an assignment in the area before they decided to visit the MP.

Kenya Police chopper ferrying Oscar Sudi lands at the Rift Valley National Police Service, Dog Section Unit in Nakuru. [Photo: Standard]

Those arrested too are expected in court Monday to face various charges, police aware of the plans said.
The officers from the president’s team were with the MP at the time of the raid.
It’s not clear their mission there. Such a team guards the president and deputy president with their families.
The MP is supposed to take a plea for hate speech. He has been daring police to arrest him.

It emerged he had changed places he had been hiding from Nairobi to a guest house near Kitale town. His legal team advised him to surrender Sunday morning for processing to avoid further tensions.