IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba is now on leave. [Photo/ Natio.co.ke] 

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Now that IEBC CEO Ezra Chiloba has taken a leave of three weeks, during which the fresh presidential poll will be held, it is time for NASA candidate Raila Odinga to return to the race to face President Uhuru Kenyatta. Chiloba said he was taking leave to satisfy the demands of the NASA coalition, whose candidate pulled out of the race over the continued stay of the electoral commission’s head of secretariat. Besides Chiloba, two other senior election officials have requested for a long leave, clearing the path for Raila — who lost to President Kenyatta by more than 1.4 million votes in the August general election — to make a comeback ahead of next week’s election. In recent weeks, Raila has been telling supporters that the main reason why he was abandoning the Supreme Court-ordered rerun was because Chiloba was still in office. The only other reason why the ODM leader may not want to be on the ballot in fear of being humiliated again. President Kenyatta has vowed to retire him permanently, by beating him by more than three million votes. It must, however, not be forgotten when the Supreme Court nullified the election, it found no wrongdoing on the part of Chiloba or any other IEBC official.