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| Blogger Billy Simani, alias Billy the Goat and Crazy Nairobian, has been released |
Blogger Billy Simani, alias Billy the Goat and Crazy Nairobian, has been released. X influencer Billy Simani released from police custody. Billy was released a few minutes before midnight on Saturday, June 22. A video shared by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president Faith Odhiambo captured her with Billy after the release. “Hello, everyone. I want to confirm that we have been able to rescue Billy. He is now safe and sound. I know we got a notification earlier, and so did LSK; we had thought that Billy had been freed, but when we sent someone to the station, we found that Billy was not there and had not been released. The moment we got a tip-off, we ran immediately to try to find Billy,” Odhiambo said. On his side, Billy confirmed he was free and thanked God. “I’m safe. Thanks to everyone. Thanks to LSK for coming to the rescue. We thank God,” he said. Why was Billy Simani arrested? Billy was apprehended on Friday, June 21, and reportedly detained at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters. Throughout Saturday, nothing was heard about his whereabouts, triggering uproar from concerned Kenyans on X. The online community held a massive space session, with over 55,000 X users listening in, to demand he be freed. The government’s chief social media activist, Dennis Itumbi, would then claim that Billy had been arrested for forwarding threatening messages. Moments later, Itumbi sent another tweet in which he suggested the influencer had been released after the supposed plaintiff offered to withdraw the case. He deleted the tweet later after it was apparent Billy had yet to be found. Billy is among the mobilisers of the anti-finance bill protests that rocked Nairobi’s city centre last week. The young population took it upon themselves to pressure the National Assembly to vote down the Finance Bill 2024, whose taxation measures are argued as oppressive.
by Brian Ajon