Anne Njeri Njoroge recounts ‘abduction in hands of police’

By Peter Ochieng

Businesswoman Ann Njeri Njoroge on Tuesday made her first public appearance, about a week after going missing.

She is at the centre of a Sh17 billion oil shipment that has caused a dispute between her and two oil companies, namely Galana Energies Limited and Ramco.

Addressing the press, flanked by her lawyers among them Cliff Ombeta who raised a red flag over her disappearance last week, Njorioge said that last Thursday she went to record a statement at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters along Kiambu road in Nairobi, after being advised to do so by Energy Cabinet Secretary (CS) Davis Chirchir.

The CS on Monday confirmed that she met the businesswoman before the news of her disappearance went public.

At the DCI, Njoroge said she was told that she was being transferred to another office to record her statement, before being bundled in a vehicle that took her to an unknown destination.

"They told me we were going to a different office to record another statement, but when I got outside, I found Karanja and a Yuris who asked me if I was on any medication. They told me we were going somewhere, and If I'm on any medication, I should tell them,” she recounted.

She was then asked to hand over her mobile phone and the PIN. “I did as directed because I was told to follow the law,” she added.

She recalled travelling for a long distance, before coming to a stop. Another vehicle came, and she got blinded folded, bundled in the second vehicle, before the journey to an isolated room started.

She requested her abductors not to kill her, since she has children who depend on her. “Don’t worry, nothing will happen to you,” she got an assurance from them.

The room had few items, among them a mattress. She was left under the guard of two people, as other men left to investigate whether the oil in contention was hers.

Anne Njoroge says they came back in the morning and informed her that their investigations had revealed that the oil was hers and that she would be set free in due course.

She says all along, she was given enough food but declined over thoughts that it may be poisoned. She made a decision to survive on coffee.

The businesswoman claimed that on Monday, she was moved and left at a location in Nairobi, where she reunited with her lawyer, Cliff Ombetta, ahead of her arraignment in court, in Mombasa on Tuesday.