Kabando demands resignation of DIG Lagat after Albert Ojwang’s mysterious death
Former Mukurwe-Ini Member of Parliament (MP) Kabando Wa Kabando wants Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Eliud Lagat to step aside immediately.
In a statement on X on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, Kabando demanded that the DIG resign by the close of business on June 10, 2025.
“Rogue Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Eliud Lagat, must leave office at the latest by 5:00 pm, Tuesday, 10th June,” read the statement in part.
This follows mounting pressure after the Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, in a joint press briefing with the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) Chairperson Issack Hassan on Monday, June 9, 2025, stated that Lagat launched a complaint against Albert Ojwang, who died hours after being arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on June 8, 2025, over a social media post.
He was picked up by police officers in Kakot, Homa Bay County, on Saturday afternoon, June 7, 2025, who said they were probing him over a post he allegedly made on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
They later drove him to Nairobi and detained him at the Central Police Station.
However, when his family arrived at the police station on Sunday, June 8, 2025, to follow up on the case, they found he was dead.
Ojwang’s death
“We awaited his arraignment in court on Monday, June 9, 2025, so we can follow up on the case from there. But today, his father, who came to follow up after the arrest, informed me that his son was dead. It is quite unfortunate,” a lawyer for the family told reporters outside the police station.
They said police told them Albert’s body had been taken to City Mortuary.
“One does not deserve to lose their life; there is the law, and we expected the boy to be processed normally and charged, then, if found guilty, punished according to the law,” the lawyer added.
Meshack Opiyo, Albert’s father, broke down as he narrated how his only child was arrested at their home while having lunch with the family after returning from the farm.
“He was arrested and taken to Mawego police station, and then later at night, he was transferred to Nairobi. The arresting police told me Albert had insulted a senior person on X,” Opiyo said.
Upon arrival in Nairobi on Sunday, June 8, 2025, he said officers at Central Police Station told him his son died in the hospital from self-inflicted injuries after hitting himself against the wall. Opiyo cast doubt on the police’s claims, calling for an urgent investigation.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) Chairperson Issack Hassan has stressed that the commission has already deployed a team to probe the controversial death of Ojwang in police custody.
Addressing the press on Monday, June 9, 2025, at the Central Police Station in Nairobi, Hassan assured Kenyans that IPOA would conduct an intensive investigation aimed at establishing the truth and ensuring justice prevails.
“Our mandate is to uphold the rule of law and protect citizens from any form of abuse by the police. We shall leave no stone unturned in uncovering the circumstances that led to Ojwang’s death,” he affirmed
