Exiled Kenyan lawyer Miguna Miguna has expressed his excitement and gratitude as he landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport 1,716 days after he was deported to Canada.

The enthused and bullish Miguna landed in Nairobi on Thursday at 6am aboard a Kenya Airways flight and was welcomed by a large enthusiastic crowd that milled at the airport.

“I am very very very grateful for the warm welcome that you have given me, and I am extremely happy to be back home,” Miguna said.

He thanked Kenyans and the judiciary for standing by him and the constitution during his tribulations in the hands of the former administration to ensure he finally got justice.


He said: “I would like to extend my gratitude to the Judiciary that stood firm with the rule of law. I must extend my gratitude to Kenyans who voted overwhelmingly for the Kenya Kwanza government because that is central for me. Without this administration I would not be back home."

The lawyer also thanked President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua for stepping in and making sure he returned to the country after more than four years.


“I am thanking the president, his deputy and their administration and everybody else who has worked tirelessly to make sure that my rights and the rights of every other Kenyan are protected. What has happened to me should never happen to anyone else. A Kenyan born citizen cannot be removed forcefully from the country and banished in a foreign land," he added.

On leaving JKIA, Miguna was escorted out by a contingent of security officers as he made his way to Uhuru Gardens, the venue for the Mashujaa Day fetes presided over by Dr Ruto.


“I can smell the freshness of the Kenyan oxygen and freedom; this is what we wanted,” Miguna said as he arrived at Uhuru Gardens about two hours later.

The former close aide to ODM chief Raila Odinga earlier revealed on twitter that he had been invited by the president for the Mashujaa Day luncheon at State House, Nairobi after.