Family and friends of missing blogger Bogonko Bosire on Saturday held a candle-lighting event in Nairobi in remembrance of elite journalist who went missing in 2013.
Bogonko Bosire was a journalist and author of Jackal News, a popular website that gained prominence for publishing titillating tidbits on the high and the mighty.
Relatives and friends who spoke during the event demanded answers to the mysterious disappearance of the elite blogger, who worked for the Jubilee party before he went missing.
Bogonko, considered a genius journalist in Kenya has been missing for over eight years, with several conspiracy theories being coined to explain his disappearance.
One of the biggest victims of the theories has been Dennis Itumbi, a man considered to have been his closest friend before he disappeared.
Bogonko’s disappearance coincided with the Westgate Mall terror attack of September 21, 2013.
According to Itumbi, the fact that Bosire’s blog, The Jackal News, did not cover the attack was suggestive that he was among the 68 that were felled by terrorist bullets.
Itumbi, in a Facebook post, said that he remained so close to Bosire until he disappeared.
“Then Westgate happened. We could not understand how Jackal could be silent on such a major issue and our friend was nowhere to be seen. Our friend was nowhere to be seen,” says Itumbi.
“We searched for him. We used our networks to trace him. We got data from cellphone companies. We followed up every rumour and fact. We hang on every tip. We got a great Police officer at Industrial area who kept us hopeful. We ignored the naysayers. Still we could NOT trace our friend,” said Itumbi.
However, some members of the public who attended the candle-lighting event threatened to walk to Dennis Itumbi’s home in Kirinyaga to demand answers on Bogonko’s disappearance.
Here are some posts from Twitter about the event:-
https://twitter.com/Manu_maosa/status/1439166147958616065
https://twitter.com/courtynephilip/status/1439208108044267525
https://twitter.com/ItsPOS/status/1439204238324912134
https://twitter.com/KOT_Loyals/status/1439157381339000836
On September 17, 2013, days before he disappeared, Bosire published a tweet that allegedly revealed the identity of ICC Witness 536, whom he said “could be “Grace Nyakero Githuta,” whose testimony was rejected by a Kenyan judge.
This was considered a fatal mistake by Bosire, as Kenyans felt that this could have led to his disappearance.
After the tweet, his Twitter account went mute until January 28, 2014, when a tweet was published about how he worked for ‘them’ before his mysterious disappearance.
On February 2, 2014, an alarming tweet was published using the same account, claiming that Bosire was “eliminated after becoming a loose mouth”.
“Bogonko died… And I know because I am posting from the phone he had… He become a loose mouth at the end and had to be eliminated,” the tweet read.
Bogonko died… And I know because I am posting from the phone he had… He become a loose mouth at the end and had to be eliminated…
— Bogonko Bosire (@bogonkobosire) February 1, 2014
The account has been in use and had its last tweet on January 20, 2020. It is not yet clear who still uses Bogonko Bosire’s accounts.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@kahawatungu.com or WhatsApp +254707482874. You can also find us on Telegram through www.t.me/kahawatungu
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
