Internet personality Lilian Ng'ang'a is speaking up after slain LGBTQ+ activist and model Edwin Chiloba's many 'friends' failed to turn up for his final send-off.
While hundreds paid their last respects to him, many who claimed friendship with him on social media were a no-show during his burial.
Taking to social media, Lilian Ng'ang'a, although, she didn't call out anyone, stated that the incident shows that family is all that matters.
"…that the many people who posted how they knew Chiloba did not attend his send-off show how superficial friendships are and that family is all that matters," she wrote.
Chiloba's burial
The model whose real name was Edwin Kiprotich Kiptoo was smothered to death in a killing that caused outrage. He was buried in his family's village on land he was supposed to inherit in Sergoit village in western Kenya.
According to chief government pathologist, Johansen Oduor said Chiloba had "died from asphyxia, which is caused by smothering".
Socks had been stuffed into the victim's mouth and a piece of denim from jeans tied around his face, the pathologist said.
His alleged lover, a 24-year-old Nairobi -based freelance photographer Jackton Odhiambo confessed to killing him after finding out that Chiloba had another partner.
Tributes on social media described the activist, who was in his mid-20s, as "an amazing human" and an "iconic fashion designer".
Chiloba had moved to Eldoret from the capital, Nairobi, in 2019 to study fashion and was beginning to make a name for himself in design, a friend said.
Meanwhile, his family rubbished the LGBTQ+ tag on their kin.
Speaking to Citizen TV on January 9, Chiloba's sister Gladys Chemutai Kiptoo regretted her brother's brutal murder terming people spreading the gay chatter as his 'enemies.'
The sister recalled Chiloba's involvement in religious activities dating back to his primary school days to his secondary education as well.
"Hii mambo tunasikia social media hatujawahi ona. My case is, ni enemies wake wanajaribu kumharibia jina. (The ongoing social media chatter about his orientation is being spread by people aiming at tarnishing his name.)
"My brother was brought up in a Christian background. He was a church leader at Sergoit Primary School and also the YCS leader at St. Francis Kimuron Boys' High School. He has been nicknamed "pastor".
She noted that the Chiloba they knew at home was different from the person he is being painted.
"He came to Nairobi for university studies. So all these things we are hearing on social media, we have never suspected," she noted.
Chiloba was found murdered and his body was stashed in a metallic box along the Kipenyo-Kaptinga road in Kapseret on Wednesday, January 4, 2023.
