Lugari MP Ayub Savula has dismissed reports that he is under pressure to bow out of the Kakamega gubernatorial contest.

He said he was the best-suited aspirant under Democratic Action Party-Kenya to deliver the governorship to Azimio-One Kenya Alliance. “I am not aware of any pressure to have me drop out of the race to succeed Governor Wycliffe Oparanya and instead vie as a senator,” said Savula.

Savula ) made the remarks when he took his campaigns to Ikolomani and Shinyalu constituencies on Saturday. This follows reports that he was under pressure from the party to vie for Senate to allow Deputy Governor Prof. Philip Kutima to be the  DAP-K gubernatorial candidate in the August 9 elections.

Azimio-OKA is going through a rough patch due to frictions between ODM and DAP-K on one hand and within the individual parties.

Savula was the first to decamp to DAP-K from Amani National Congress in protest after his then party leader Musalia Mudavadi decided to join forces with Deputy President William Ruto.

Kutima followed suit from ODM, claiming the party had settled on former Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Chief Executive Fernandes Barasa as their sole candidate for the governorship.

The same is playing out in the Shinyalu constituency where the incumbent Justus Kizito joined DAP-K from ODM.