Odoyo Owidi: Raila planned Ruto as ODM 2027 candidate
Policy and political analyst Odoyo Owidi has said the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga had already crafted a plan to front President William Ruto as the ODM candidate in the 2027 general polls.
Speaking in an interview on a local radio station on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, Owidi, a longtime insider, said that Raila had made peace quietly with Ruto and even envisioned him as the ODM flagbearer.
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“Ruto was Raila’s best ODM candidate. There are some plan which is being implemented from where I sit. President, William Ruto was going to run on ticket, and UDA was going to be collapsed into ODM and that would have been the way forward,” he said.
His remarks come at a time when internal divisions are emerging within the party, with some leaders now pushing for Ruto to seek re-election in 2027 under the ODM ticket.
While ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna insists that the party will field its own candidate in 2027, Owidi disputes the narrative, pointing to Raila’s ambiguous public statements before his passing.
“I went back and replayed that instruction [Raila gave them] multiple times. It is possible that the instructions meant Ruto was the plan, because I heard Raila say very clearly, ‘they already have a plan which they are implementing,” he argued.
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Owidi further explained that Raila’s leadership style within ODM was authoritative, often giving directions rather than seeking consensus.
“Everybody in that party knows when Baba said left, we go left. When he said right, it was right,” the pundit explained.
Incidentally, ODM Deputy Party leader and Kisii Governor Simba Arati has extended an unexpected olive branch to Ruto, urging him to rejoin the ODM, the party of which he was a founding member.
Speaking at Mashujaa Day celebrations in Kisii on Monday, October 20, 2025, Arati, who also stated that if President Ruto rejoins the party, he will be considered its flag bearer in the 2027 General Election.
“The President yesterday said he is going to ensure that ODM remains the party it is. I want to urge him today, Mheshimiwa Ruto, you were a founding member of ODM. How I wish that you come back to your former party,” Arati said.
“If you came back to ODM, then we would have you as our flag bearer. If you came back, we would fulfil the promise Baba had a vision for.”
Arati reiterated ODM’s commitment to carrying on the ideals of the late Raila Odinga, describing him as “our north, our compass in times of challenge.”
“We commit to carrying Baba’s dream forward. Raila was our north, our compass in times of challenges; his vision will forever be the foundation upon which we build Kenya’s future,” he said. “Let’s honour his memory by doing the things he championed for.”
