{"id":158321,"date":"2026-02-21T18:10:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu"},"modified":"2026-02-21T18:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:54:18","slug":"odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu","title":{"rendered":"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Kenya. <\/strong> <\/span>Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has declared that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has a strong pool of leaders capable of vying for the presidency, pushing back against recent remarks by party leader Oburu Oginga on the party\u2019s political ambitions.<\/p>\n<p>Osotsi dismissed claims that ODM is only interested in negotiating for junior positions, saying the party has enough leadership depth to field a presidential candidate in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOburu Oginga is telling us that ODM does not want the presidency and does not want the deputy presidency. We want to tell him today, here in Kakamega, that ODM has leaders who are more than qualified to be president,\u201d Osotsi said.<\/p>\n<p>Amid cheers from the crowd, the senator who was speaking at a public gathering in Kakamega, listed several party figures he said have the credentials to lead the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsn\u2019t Sifuna qualified? Isn\u2019t Babu qualified? Isn\u2019t Orengo qualified? And what about Osotsi himself, isn\u2019t he qualified?\u201d he posed. Osotsi\u2019s remarks come at a time of heightened political debate within ODM over the party\u2019s direction ahead of the 2027 General Election.<\/p>\n<p>The comments follow recent statements by Oburu that have stirred controversy over the party\u2019s bargaining position in ongoing political realignments. According to recent reports, Oburu indicated that ODM\u2019s engagement in coalition talks was focused on securing its \u201cfair share\u201d in government, including the possibility of negotiating for the Deputy President\u2019s position.<\/p>\n<p>However, Oburu has at other times sought to downplay perceptions of aggressive power demands, saying the party\u2019s negotiations are driven by national interest rather than personal ambition.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during an ODM delegates meeting in Mombasa on February 12, Oburu made it clear that they would be negotiating for the post in their talks with UDA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat Deputy President seat is what we are targeting very strongly,\u201d Oburu said.<\/p>\n<p>He argued that ODM\u2019s national popularity and widespread support justify its demand for a powerful position in any political coalition it joins, claiming that the party deserves its \u201cfair share\u201d in government based on its political influence and voter base.<\/p>\n<p>Oburu&#8217;s statement contradicted his earlier assurance to Kindiki on the matter. &#8220;We are not going to look for less. But, deputy president, do not think that we want your seat or that we want to remove you from your position. You are our friend,&#8221; Oburu said in Kisumu County during the disbursement of NYOTA funds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Kenya<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Kenya. Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has declared that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has a strong pool of leaders capable of vying for the presidency, pushing back against recent remarks by party leader Oburu Oginga on the party\u2019s political ambitions. Osotsi dismissed claims that ODM is only interested in negotiating for junior positions, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":158320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[544],"class_list":["post-158321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-kenya"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Kenya. Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Kenya. Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-21T18:10:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-21T18:54:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"738\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-21T18:10:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-21T18:54:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu\"},\"wordCount\":425,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Kenya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu\",\"name\":\"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu - kenya\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-21T18:10:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-21T18:54:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Kenya. Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg\",\"width\":738,\"height\":530,\"caption\":\"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/\",\"name\":\"kenya\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu - kenya","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Kenya. Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Kenya. Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu","og_site_name":"kenya","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-02-21T18:10:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-21T18:54:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":738,"height":530,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu","datePublished":"2026-02-21T18:10:56+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-21T18:54:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu"},"wordCount":425,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg","keywords":["Kenya"],"articleSection":["all news","parties"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu","name":"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu - kenya","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-21T18:10:56+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-21T18:54:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Kenya. Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2026\/02\/sm_1771699852.83976.jpg","width":738,"height":530,"caption":"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/odm-leaders-ready-for-presidency-osotsi-tells-oburu#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ODM Leaders Ready for Presidency Osotsi Tells Oburu"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/","name":"kenya","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}