Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has claimed that he missed the State Funeral service and burial of Raila Odinga after receiving intelligence that there was a plot to assassinate him.

According to him, he was willing to attend Raila's State Funeral at Nyayo Stadium and also his burial at Bondo, but several factors prevented him from doing so.

Speaking during an interview with Inooro TV on Sunday, November 16, Gachagua alleged that before the two ceremonies, he received intelligence that some senior government officials had put a sinister plan in place for some police, dressed as civilians, to attack him and prevent him from attending the ceremony at Nyayo Stadium, as well as the burial in Bondo.

"I was very prepared to go to the national stadium, but some police told me not to go because the government had planned to use some officers to attack me so that it may be said that people from the Nyanza region attacked me, and after I knew that, I said I cannot risk it," Gachagua said.

According to Gachagua, a senior official in the Ministry of Interior, he initiated a similar plan when he announced his intention to visit Bondo.

"I then said I would go to Bondo, and the official had arranged the same plan so that they could attack and kill me to trigger enmity between our communities. I know President Ruto's administration very well," he added.

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However, despite the threats, Gachagua has revealed he will visit Raila's home in Bondo in the first week of December to pay his last respects to the former Prime Minister.

Gachagua said that he has already held discussions with both Raila Odinga's family and elders from Mount Kenya, who have already given him a green light to visit Bondo immediately after the upcoming by-elections are over.

According to Gachagua, he will lead a delegation of elders, church leaders, and other community members from the Mount Kenya region in the first week of December to pay their respects to the late Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader.

In addition to paying their last respects and offering their condolences to Raila's family, Gachagua affirmed his visit will also focus on reinforcing the friendship between the two regions.

"We were never friends with Raila, and we never listened to each other, but it was nothing personal; it was all about politics. I have already talked to our elders, and they have told me that it is good to also look for friends from Raila's community, and it is okay to lead a delegation to Bondo," Gachagua said.

"I have already talked to Winnie Odinga, the daughter to Raila and I have told them to give me a chance and finish the Mbeere by-election and give me a day on the first week of December so that I may go there with a delegation from our region so that we may say sorry to the family and also look for our brothers from the Nyanza region," he added.

Gachagua further slammed President William Ruto and other senior government officials for claiming that they admired and loved Raila during his burial, yet they knew they were lying, according to Gachagua. Gachagua said that this is another factor that motivated him not to go to the burial.

"The lies that were there, I just can't handle them. Ruto and other government officials lied the way they liked Raila, and yet they did not. The only person who spoke the truth in that burial was Kalonzo because he had stayed with him for 15 years," Gachagua said.

Acknowledging the impact Raila had in the country's political ecosystem, Gachagua affirmed Gachagua said he is working to elevate his DCP party to the level that Raila’s ODM had reached.