Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has revealed that he travelled from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to his Wamunyoro home in Nyeri County in a Toyota Probox, an ordinary commuter vehicle, after returning secretly from a nearly two-month trip to the United States, citing fears for his life.
Speaking in an interview with a vernacular television station on Sunday night, Gachagua said he deliberately avoided all publicity when he landed on October 20, keeping his arrival plans secret even from his own drivers and security detail.
“I returned silently. I made sure there were no photos. I got into a Probox car and headed directly to Wamunyoro,” Gachagua said.
He disclosed that he did not spend the night at his Karen residence in Nairobi, travelling directly to Nyeri shortly after landing. “I did not sleep here [Karen home]. I arrived around 9 pm; by 12 a.m., I was at my home [Wamunyoro]”.
The former Deputy President, who leads the Democracy for the Citizens Party, explained that using his usual convoy would have made it easier for security agencies and his alleged political detractors to track his movements.
“They [security agencies] would have noted my usual convoy. These are not good people… they can plan evil deeds against me,” he said. He further stated that he informed no one of his travel plans, “not even my drivers and security guards,” fearing that information would leak.
Gachagua’s decision marked a sharp departure from his previous return from the US in 2025, when large crowds of supporters thronged JKIA to welcome him.
He claimed that the publicity surrounding that homecoming had exposed him to an alleged assassination plot. “Last time I had publicised my return, and my followers turned up in large numbers at the airport. There were plans to harm me. Many goons were sent. It is God who saved my life,” he said.
In a separate account, he alleged that police, GSU, and DCI officers had been deployed to intercept him at the airport on that occasion.
Gachagua’s low-key return lay in his increasingly fraught political position since his impeachment as Deputy President in October 2024.
His Wamunyoro residence in Mathira, Nyeri County, had since become a focal point for opposition political activity ahead of the 2027 General Election.
The US trip, which began on August 26 and took him to Spokane, Portland, Kansas, Dallas, and Boston, combined diaspora engagements with discussions on opposition unity and investment.
Hours after his quiet return, Gachagua resurfaced publicly by hosting a delegation of the Linda Mwananchi Movement at Wamunyoro on Mashujaa Day, including Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, a figure from a traditionally different political camp.
The meeting was widely interpreted as a step towards consolidating opposition forces against President William Ruto. Gachagua wrote on social media: “Upon my return from the United States, I welcomed the Linda Mwananchi leadership… We held a candid and constructive discussion on the liberation of our country”.
