Edgar Obare arrested for pinning friend’s ‘pregnancy’ on governor

Controversial blogger Edgar Obare was arrested on Thursday evening (March 4) for attempting to obtain Ksh10 million from a male Kenyan governor whom he falsely accused of impregnating his friend.

“Detectives from the Cybercrime unit have uncovered an underworld network of criminals involving young ladies recruited by [Edgar] Obare to stalk prominent personalities in political, business and religious circles for monetary exploitation,” the DCI said on Twitter Thursday night while announcing Obare’s arrest.

The investigative agency says the women, after being lured by Obare, are “coached on how to ensnare the victims into their traps, then extort unimaginable sums of money from them.”

The DCI claim that recently, a woman by the name Desy Oduor Achieng, who has also been arrested, attempted to extort Ksh10 million from an unnamed governor, whom she falsely accused of impregnating her. Achieng, a resident of Nyali, Mombasa, had been coached by Obare on how to go about the extortion, the DCI said.

“She had been coached how to stalk a prominent governor with the hope of extorting Ksh10 million from him. Obare had shared the governor’s number with her, and instructed her to tell him that she was pregnant with his child, and that she would tell the whole world about their little secret,” the DCI tweeted.

“When the governor did not respond, she was instructed to threaten him that she would share photos that they had allegedly taken in compromising situations but the governor did not respond.

“Dejected that their plan wasn’t working, Edgar took to his social media pages accusing the governor of impregnating a lady and failing to take responsibility. The supposedly pregnant lady wasn’t aware that, all along, Edgar was taking screenshots of their conversations and her photos.”

Achieng, who “feared Obare’s actions could harm her image” had gone to report the blogger in Nyali, Mombasa, when she was arrested on Thursday evening. Obare, who was in Nairobi, was also apprehended shortly thereafter.

“Further, the lady has said she has never met the governor, adding that she had only been recruited by Edgar, to extort money from the governor,” said the DCI.

A medical examination on Achieng revealed she is not pregnant, as had earlier been alleged by herself and Obare.

The two suspects will on Friday, March 5 be charged with publishing false information, contrary to Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act, 2018.