Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli has said that Azimio la Umoja lost the August 9, 2022 presidential contests by failing to send agents in polling stations.
He said the Azimio brigade had all the government machinery to secure the presidency but failed to do so due to poor logistical planning.
In the results announced by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, President William Ruto beat Azimio candidate Raila Odinga with 7.1 million votes against Raila's 6.9 million.
"We pushed Ruto out of the system and we had all it takes to ensure we take the government but we failed," Atwoli said.
The Cotu boss was speaking on Saturday in Hamisi subcounty during the burial of the late Rajab Mwondi. Mwondi was the Cotu chairman.
Before switching allegiance and starting to work with President William Ruto, Atwoli was a vocal Azimio supporter and a fierce Ruto critic prior to the 2022 presidential polls.
He went on record multiple times saying Ruto would never be president.
"Ruto will never lead Kenya. We shall have a President in 2022, but it will not be William Ruto," the Cotu boss said on January 5, 2019.
Atwoli would, however, later say he never said Ruto would never be a head of state.
“As I have said always, William Samoei Ruto is an articulate politician. But I had envisioned that he can’t become the fifth President of Kenya, I did not say he can’t be a president,” he said during an interview on Citizen on September 5, 2022.
His remarks came after the Supreme Court dismissed the presidential petition that had been filed by Azimio disputing Ruto's win.
Raila and other petitioners claimed in their consolidated petition that the elections were rigged.
The apex court, however, dismissed the case saying they petitioners did not prove their allegations.