The former Migori County Governor, Okoth Obado, on Wednesday, April 23, 2025, reiterated that he did not kill his former lover, Sharon Otieno.
During his defense hearing at the Milimani High Court before Justice Cecilia Githua, Obado stated that Sharon did not deserve to die.
“I feel sad she died, she did not deserve to die, very sad for her parents, children left and her relatives. I also feel sad that it has tainted my name, so generally am sad about it and sorry that it had to happen to her,” Obado told the court.
Mother knew of the affair
Additionally, Obado told the court that Sharon’s mother knew about their affair. The former governor detailed in court that Sharon could call her using her mother’s number. Obado added that Sharon, at some point, even allowed her mother to talk to him.
Obado told the court that she was surprised that her wife knew of the affair, yet he had disclosed it.
“I had not yet disclosed to my wife that there was another lady in my life, I was surprised she knew, I did not accept that I knew Sharon,” Obado narrated.
Apology
In a fresh twist, Obado also revealed that the issue regarding the affair came up during the devolution conference in Kisumu County in May 2018.
The former governor faced his wife, Hellen Adhiambo, and even apologised afterwards.
“I decided to open up and I offered my apology, I will not state the exact words I used to apologise to my wife,” Obado said.
However, Obado told the court that he assured her wife that he had terminated the relationship, but he would be responsible for the child Sharon was carrying.
Out in public
After the affair went public, Obado stated that his then-communication director, Nicholas Anyur, approached him to find ways of handling the situation.
“It was no longer a secret that something was going on between us, social media was so busy with the relationship, and it got to my director of communication and my media team, who approached me on how to handle it,” Obado told the court.
Obado told the court that he dismissed his then-communications director, insisting that the matter did not require the county’s intervention.
He recounted that when the relationship came to social media, he only got worried about his wife, Hellen Adhiambo, stating that he was not much worried about it affecting his work since he was in his last term as a governor.
On June 18, 2018, Obado and his wife travelled abroad for their child’s graduation, and they agreed with his wife that Obado would share the issue with his son Dan, who would inform the other siblings.
Fortunately, when he reached out to his son to break the news, Dan told him that he already knew about Sharon through social media.
“When I introduced the topic about Sharon being pregnant for me, he responded that he already knew about it,” Obado told the court.
Dan said they knew each other through social media, and Sharon told Dan that she could be his mother.
He added that Sharon had already told him that she was carrying his brother, and she even sent her baby bump photos to prove that.