Kevin Obia property to be auction by Kibaki daughter over 2.4 million debt

Flamboyant city businessman Kevin Obia alias The Don, who is known for living a life of opulence and always flaunting his wealth online, is set to lose his household goods on Wednesday, 24 May 2023.

Despite his wealth, The Don has found himself in a tight spot as his household items are set to be auctioned after he failed to pay Sh2.4 million in rent arrears to his landlord, Judith Wanjiku Kibaki, daughter of the late former President Mwai Kibaki.

According to court documents in the possession of Nairobi News, civil case number E1069/2023, Ms Kibaki accused her tenant Obia of failing to pay rent as per their lease agreement.

On 1 March 2022, Ms Kibaki entered into a lease agreement with Obia in respect of property L.R. Number 460/3734 situated along Chalbi Drive in Lavington.

The terms of the lease included a term of 2 years and a monthly rent of Ksh 350,000 payable on the 1st of each month.

However, since Obia occupied the house, Ms Kibaki says he has consistently failed to make payments in defiance of the lease agreement.

“Since occupying the premises in question, the plaintiff has consistently failed to pay the monthly rent. As at 31 January 2023, the applicant (Obia) was in arrears of rent amounting to Ksh 2,780,000. He paid Ksh 996,000 on 28 February 2023 after receiving a demand letter from my lawyer,” Ms Kibaki said in court papers.

Earlier on 16 February 2023, when it became clear that the landlord was going to seize his belongings for auction due to his persistent non-payment of rent, Obia filed an urgent application at the Milimani Commercial Court, asking the court to restrain Ms Kibaki from evicting him.

The court granted his wishes on 20 March 2023.

But in a rejoinder, Ms Kibaki, through her lawyer Paul Maingi Musyimi, accused Obia of lying when he filed his application against her.

“The said orders were made by concealment of material facts by the plaintiff/respondent which would not have been made had the court been aware of the material facts,” Musyimi argued.

In her supporting affidavit, Ms Kibaki described Obia’s application as a misguided abuse of the court process and riddled with misrepresentation.

“While the applicant is seeking equitable orders against me, he does not deserve them as his hands are not clean as he has suppressed material information thereby misleading the court into granting him undeserved orders. While he lied in paragraph 3 that he has been a tenant for 5 years, the correct position is that he has been in occupation since March 2022,” he said.

The court has since set aside the orders granted to Obia and allowed Ms Kibaki to proceed with the auction of his household goods.

The auction is set to take place on Wednesday, 24 May 2023 at the property in Lavington.