Independent presidential aspirant Peter Gichira has shelved his ambitions after allegedly being abducted and losing the signatures he had collected to present to the Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) in preparation for the August 9 polls.

The aspirant popularly known as Ptah Solomuz Gichira reported his abduction at the Lunga Lunga Police Station on Wednesday, May 25, claiming that he had been kidnapped on Monday, May 23 as he waited for a taxi at Tena estate, along Outer Ring Road to make his way to  Bomas of Kenya for the pre-nomination meeting between the IEBC and Presidential Aspirants.

He stated that a car pulled up next to him and one of the three occupants called him by name and as he checked who they were they pushed him inside and ordered him to unlock his mobile phone.

“In the process, I lost the following: – all my signed forms for supporting my candidature; Copies of National Identity Cards that I had collected in support of the signatures; an external hard disk and laptop both with electronic data of the signed forms and my phone and ID card,” Gichira stated in his withdrawal letter.

“Having considered the time, effort, and financial resources involved in a fresh exercise of collecting signatures; the timelines that the IEBC has for these requisite documents; and above all the trauma I have been subjected to, I find my candidature no longer tenable,” he added.

The alleged abductors took his bag which had a laptop worth Kshs 27,000, a phone techno spark7 worth Kshs 10,500, an external disk, and other personal documents.

He also claimed that his abductors sprayed him  with an unknown chemical that made him fall asleep until the following day on Tuesday, May 24 at around 6 am at the Lunga Lunga stage at KPLC.

“A good Samaritan took him to Lunga lunga hospital for first aid and he gave the person his wife’s number. Since he only knew of Industrial Area Police station, he reported there and was referred to Lunga lunga where he made his report and proceeded home,” the police report read.

He called on law enforcers to ensure the safety of other aspirants like himself and  implored them to conduct conclusive investigations into his kidnapping.

“I have sought to provide this detailed account of my abduction to you so that you may consider working in close collaboration with the National Police Service, in beefing up the security of candidates and that of the entire General Elections,” Gichira said in his withdrawal letter to the IEBC.

This is the second time the aspirant has failed at his bid for State House as in 2017, the IEBC declined to clear him to run as an independent candidate.

This escalated into a dramatic scene where Gichira allegedly tried to commit suicide by jumping off sixth floor of IEBC offices in Nairobi, and was arrested and charged for attempted suicide charge, malicious damage to property and creating a disturbance at IEBC offices. 

He was acquitted of the first two charges but was convicted for the latter, and was cautioned from committing any other offence in the six months that followed.