By Gathuru John.
This TikTok video with 85.2K views, published on September 14, 2026, claims that President William Ruto confirmed that Dr. Oburu Odinga is dead. It has 3,874 likes at the time of review. The post features a black-and-white image of Oburu Odinga speaking at Kenya’s presidential lectern, with the text, “Ruto confirms that Dr. Oburu is no more.”
In the background is the voice of President William Ruto, saying, “I want to apologise for the late notification. I wish that our late brother, Doctor Oburu Oginga, was here with us today.”
Background
Dr. Oburu Oginga Odinga is the Senator for Siaya County and Party Leader of the Orange Democratic Movement, ODM. On August 29, 2026, photos circulated online here, here, and here among others showing him playing golf, providing proof of his well-being. But that evening, he visited a hospital for a general checkup and was released after two days. On September 1, 2026, claims started spreading online here, here and here, purporting that Oburu had been re-admitted to the hospital. Dr. Oburu Oginga dismissed the claims on his X account later that day.
A Facebook post by Senator Methu further confirmed his well-being after visiting him at his home on September 4, 2026. On Sunday, September 6, 2026, Oburu flew to the United Kingdom for a routine medical check-up, where he was for about three weeks, returning to Kenya on September 26, 2026.
In early to mid-September 2026, claims started circulating online here, here, and here purporting that Oburu had died. The account that posted the video we are debunking in this article also posted a few more videos here (240k views) and here (267k views), claiming that Oburu was dead, as shown below.
As evidenced by comments on the video, made on October 8, 2026, the clip was viewed many times following the renewed claims of the passing of Oburu circulated widely by Maverick Aoko on X on October 6, which prompted a reply from Oburu Odinga dismissing the claims as fake news.
Verification
The audio in the post has been detached from this video on TikTok, and the photo of Oburu using Kenya’s president’s lectern is layered on top. So, where did the video from which the audio was detached come from? The video was cut from a longer video, evidenced by the visible jump cuts.
In the clip, the president says, “I want to apologise for the late notification. I wish that our late brother, Doctor Oburu Oginga, was here with us today.”
Whereas the president said these words, he did not say them in this exact order. Several parts of this longer speech from June 2026 were cut and edited into a clip that makes it appear as though he said those words in that exact order. The clip was made by cutting clips of these four statements from these four timestamps.
- “I want to apologise for the late notification.” 1 Minute 53 seconds
- “I wish that our late brother.” 1 Minute 30 seconds
- “Doctor Oburu Oginga” 1 Minute 46 seconds
- “Was here with us today” 1 Minute 35 seconds
This is a trick used by bad online actors to misinform the public, as it was in this viral clip debunked by Piga Firimbi.
Verdict
The claim that President Ruto confirmed that Dr. Oburu is dead is FALSE.
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