Thousands of mourners briefly overran Nairobi’s international airport on Thursday during the arrival ceremony for the late veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, disrupting official proceedings as crowds also blocked nearby roads and attempted to breach parliament grounds.
Odinga, a towering figure in Kenyan politics for decades — once imprisoned for his political activism and a five-time presidential candidate — passed away on Wednesday at age 80 in India, where he had been undergoing medical treatment.
As supporters gathered across the capital to honor him, President William Ruto and other top officials arrived at the airport to receive Odinga’s body with full military honors.
However, as the coffin was being unloaded from the aircraft, mourners waving twigs and flags — some arriving on motorbikes — surged past security and onto the airstrip, momentarily halting the ceremony, according to eyewitnesses and Reuters footage.
The crowd later withdrew from the tarmac, but the commotion forced airport authorities to suspend operations for about two hours.
Meanwhile, other supporters scaled the gates of parliament, where a public viewing of Odinga’s body had been planned. The government later moved the event to a Nairobi sports stadium, his party announced.
Thousands made their way — many on foot or motorcycles — to the new venue to pay their final respects to Odinga, affectionately known to his followers as “Baba” (meaning “father” in Swahili).
Many mourners, too young to remember the 1991 transition to multi-party democracy, paid tribute to Odinga’s lifelong struggle for political freedom.
“He fought tirelessly for multi-party democracy, and we enjoy those freedoms today because of his sacrifice,” said university student Felix Ambani Uneck.
Another mourner, Khahija Dennis, 30, expressed gratitude for being able to attend the viewing.
“It means a lot that people like us, who admired him from afar, can finally say goodbye to Baba in a place that symbolizes the people he stood for,” he said.
Tensions briefly flared outside the stadium when a government vehicle hit one mourner, prompting some to throw stones in protest before calm was restored.
Though best known as an opposition leader, Odinga also served as Prime Minister in 2008 and later forged a political alliance with President Ruto last year — one of many shifts in his long and eventful career.
He remained a deeply revered figure among his Luo community in western Kenya, many of whom continue to believe he was repeatedly denied the presidency through electoral fraud.
Source: CNN
