Former Migori Governor Okoth Obado told the Milimani High Court on April 23, 2025, that he had agreed to build a three‑bedroom house for Sharon Otieno in Homa Bay, at an estimated cost of KSh 3.5 million, including land purchase. During cross‑examination, defense counsel Roger Sagana highlighted that Obado hadn’t confirmed paternity of Sharon’s unborn child, but Obado insisted he could comfortably afford the project. He explained that the plan had arisen through Lawrence Mula, a former MCA and a Prosecution Witness 28, whom he described as a trusted intermediary between him and Sharon.
Obado recounted that Sharon, via Mula, initially demanded a house in Nairobi or Kisumu, proposals he discouraged. He suggested instead that a rural plot in Homa Bay would be more economical; when Sharon resisted, preferring urban plots, Obado remained firm on a country setting. Eventually, Sharon agreed to a 50 × 100‑foot plot in Homa Bay town, but he countered that rural land would offer better value.
The governor described first meeting Mula at his Rapogi home after Treasury CS John Mbadi connected him with a media figure, “XYZ,” who turned out to bring along Mula. Obado arrived late to their meeting, joined by his wife, and hosted them in his boardroom. There, XYZ claimed to hold information on Obado’s affair with Sharon and sought permission to publish it. Mula interjected, urging discretion and focusing instead on Sharon’s welfare. Obado approved their handling and tasked Mula to look after Sharon’s interests.
Obado also outlined a detailed alibi for early September 2018. He said he traveled from Rapogi to Nairobi on September 2 with his driver, bodyguard, wife, and her daughter, arriving around 9 p.m. The next morning, he met a lawyer friend in Lavington, lunched at Lavington Mall, and later visited Ida Odinga in Karen at her invitation. After news that his political stance conflicted with party leadership had circulated, he left Karen after the 7 p.m. bulletin and returned to his Lavington residence.
Prosecution evidence, however, places Obado’s phone in a remote Homa Bay location on the evening of September 3, 2018, the night Sharon was killed. Obado maintained that he was in Nairobi, saying he was “checked” entering Ida Odinga’s home and then slept at his Lavington house. He learned of Sharon’s disappearance the next morning, September 4, upon waking to missed calls from his communications director, Nicholas Anyur, and from the Migori County Police Commander, who informed him that Sharon and his personal assistant, Michael Oyamo, had been abducted. Oyamo later became the second accused in the murder trial.
Throughout his testimony, Obado emphasized his financial capacity and trust in Mula to manage Sharon’s welfare. He portrayed their relationship as one marked by negotiations over housing, with Mula mediating because he feared public exposure of the affair. His detailed alibi for the critical dates hinges on high‑profile meetings in Nairobi, directly contesting the prosecution’s tracking data. Both sides have now laid out conflicting accounts of Obado’s movements and intentions in the days leading to Sharon’s death, setting the stage for further examination of phone records, witness credibility, and the governor’s alleged role in orchestrating the events of early September 2018.
