Sonko ditches Azimio for Ruto's Kenya Kwanza

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has ditched the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya for Deputy President William Ruto-led Kenya Kwanza.

In a post by DP Ruto on Saturday, the Kenya Kwanza presidential candidate welcomed Sonko with only about nine days to the polls.

“We welcome @MikeSonko to Kenya Kwanza, the winning team,” DP Ruto wrote on Twitter.

This comes a day after the Mombasa gubernatorial aspirant had threatened to ditch the Raila Odinga-led camp citing internal frustrations in the party.

Sonko was accusing the coalition of frustrating his bid in support of ODM candidate Abdulswamad Nassir who he said was a 'State project'.

"I was cleared alongside my Deputy Governor Ali Mbogo. The impeachment was for Sonko not for Mbogo. We are pleading with IEBC and the government to clear Ali Mbogo to vie as governor," said Sonko in an interview on TV47 on Thursday.

"If they fail we are not going to support a puppet we will support Hassan Omar and UDA instead of supporting a puppet and a project."

The High Court on Thursday revoked a petition by Sonko that sought to compel IEBC to include his name among the list of candidates who will contest for Mombasa County's top seat come August.

Sonko had filed the petition on grounds that he still had an active appeal case, pertaining to his 2020 impeachment, at the East Africa Court of Justice but the three-judge High Court bench upheld a Supreme Court ruling that found his ouster from office to be constitutional.