State House Shadows: Babu Owino Accuses Oburu Odinga and Junet Mohamed of Negotiating a UDA Merger at Night

The demand by Babu Owino for an "immediate handover" of the ODM party marks the first time a leader from outside the immediate Odinga family or the "founding elders" has publicly challenged the party’s succession lineage.

Using the slogan "Baada ya Baba ni Babu" (After Father, it’s Babu), the MP is leveraging the vacuum left by the late Raila Odinga to position himself as the natural heir to the "Resistance" brand.

Babu’s argument is that the current leadership under Oburu Oginga has turned the party into a "parliamentary department" of the government, losing the revolutionary spirit that made ODM a national movement.

The "Parallel NDC" threat is the most dangerous escalation yet. Babu Owino has claimed that he has intelligence showing the "Old Guard" is purging youthful delegates from the official register ahead of the March 2026 National Delegates Conference (NDC).

He has thundered that "if they ferry strangers to Kasarani, we will convene our own NDC at Jacaranda Grounds," effectively threatening to split the party in two.

This mirrors the historic 1992 split of the original FORD party, a move that analysts say would effectively hand President William Ruto a 2027 walkover.

Oburu Oginga’s response has been one of seasoned defiance. He has challenged Babu and his supporters to "meet him in the NDC," asserting that he is the validly elected leader of the party’s transitional phase.