Activist Okiya Omtatah has now moved to court in a bid to force Deputy President William Ruto to resign before seeking the presidency in the August 2022 General Election.

In a petition filed on Monday, Omtatah argued that any public officer, including a deputy president, governor, MP and MCA must resign before being nominated a presidential candidate.

"A declaration that a sitting president, a sitting deputy president, a sitting governor and a sitting deputy governor cannot be elected to elective positions other than the ones they hold," argued Omtatah in his petition.

He goes on, “That a declaration that any public officer, including a sitting deputy president, a sitting governor, a sitting deputy governor, a sitting MP, and a sitting MCA is not qualified for nomination as a presidential candidate.”

He wants the court to declare that a sitting president, deputy president, governor, and deputy governor must exit office before they can be elected to posts other than those they hold.

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William Ruto has on various occasions said expressly that he would not resign when challenged on why he was campaigning for UDA while serving as a DP elected on a Jubilee Party ticket.

The official campaigns for the August 8 poll are set to run from May 10, after all presidential candidates submit their nomination papers to IEBC, until August 6, two days before the poll.

Civil servants seeking to vie for elective office are expected to resign by February 9, which is six months ahead of the General Election.

IEBC last year released its Election Operations plan, which stipulated that nomination exercises for all presidential candidates be conducted between May 30 and June 10.