Popular spoken word artiste and activist Willie Oeba has lifted the lid on a chilling encounter that almost ended his life in a case of mistaken identity.
Speaking to a local TV interview on Monday, June 23, 2025, the activist recounted his past days growing up in the suburbs of Nakuru when two police officers confronted him and had a gun pointed at his head.
He says the heartbreaking encounter bore his love for poetry, where he not only writes on but also advocates for justice and comments on conscious issues.
“I remember back in 2017, on December 21, which happens to be my mom’s birthday. I was going to town to pick up her birthday cake. I happened to have dreadlocks. I was almost shot for a mistaken identity. There is this gang in Nakuru called Confirmed Gang that tries to swindle people’s money through mobile phones.
During that time, there was a crackdown on them. In a case of mistaken identity, I looked like one of them. I ticked all the boxes of the stereotype. I had two phones, babylocks, clad in a pair of sweatpants, so I looked just like the gang member,” he stated.
There were these two policemen, one notably drunk and the other in uniform. They were looking at a picture on their phones and looking at me, then, and the one who seemed drunk put a gun to my head.
They say at that moment, when a gun is put to your head, your whole life flashes in front of your eyes, and if they don’t kill you, then you live as one who has nothing to lose,” he recounted.
Oeba says the life-changing moments saw him fully immerse himself in his poetry, having now done it for over a decade.
“From that point, I reflected on my life. Of course, I healed from that, but I started writing about social justice. After the incident, I wrote a piece called Dear God,” he observed.
Speaking on the impact their activism of using art as a tool for change has had so far, Oeba reveled in their gains made in transforming people’s minds, especially the young generations.
“Since we started going to the street, we have achieved a revolution of mindset. The young people now understood why they needed to be vocal. When i started, I faced backlash from people close to me. They claimed I was chasing clout, but now people appreciate it,” he revealed.
