NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 22 \u2013 Digital strategist Dennis Itumbi has retracted his earlier statement regarding the whereabouts of missing content creator Billy Simani, known as Crazy Nairobian, hours after claiming he had been released from custody.<\/p>\n
The blogger was arrested for reportedly mocking a senior government official. <\/p>\n
Initially, Itumbi announced Simani\u2019s release on bond following the withdrawal of accusations against him, stating, \u201cAsante, for the withdrawal of the complaint. Crazy Nairobian released on Free Bond. Enjoy Freedom Billy,\u201d in a now-deleted post on X.<\/p>\n
However, Itumbi later clarified that the released individual was not Simani but another content creator, Wafula Bwire, who had allegedly been detained for threatening a senior government official.<\/p>\n
\u201cCLARIFICATION: THE content creator arrested for threatening a senior public servant is WAFULA BWIRE \u2013 he was FREED this evening after the complaint was withdrawn. His relatives received him,\u201d Itumbi explained. Itumbi also mentioned the release of Stephen Kariuki, held in Nakuru on a similar charge, prompting questions about Simani\u2019s location. He noted efforts to verify Simani\u2019s status with the police.<\/p>\n
Itumbi\u2019s clarification sparked outrage among Kenyans on X, where a day-long Space with over 60,000 participants demanded answers on Simani\u2019s whereabouts. The ongoing discussion pressured state officials to disclose information regarding the content creator. Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen briefly addressed the issue during the Space, expressing his unawareness but promising to escalate the matter to relevant authorities. <\/p>\n
Earlier, a coalition of human rights defenders and content creators, including Amnesty International and the Law Society, issued a joint statement demanding transparency from the government regarding Simani\u2019s alleged detention. They accused the government of targeting protesters from recent anti-Finance Bill demonstrations, alleging intimidation tactics. <\/p>\n
Twenty-five human rights organizations have collectively urged the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to clarify Simani\u2019s situation, highlighting concerns over his reported incommunicado detention.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 22 \u2013 Digital strategist Dennis Itumbi has retracted his earlier statement regarding the whereabouts of missing content creator Billy Simani, known as Crazy Nairobian, hours after claiming he had been released from custody. The blogger was arrested for reportedly mocking a senior government official. Initially, Itumbi announced Simani\u2019s release on bond following […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}