Kenyan ex-president remains to be buried today

Former Kenya's President, Daniel Arap Moi is to be buried today.

MyNigeria.com gathered that about 60,000 Kenyans were expected to attend today's memorial service for the longest serving president who died two decades after leaving office.

In a public display of affection there were long queues of prominent and ordinary Kenyans waiting to view the body as it lay in state. But some came to the parliament buildings to verify for themselves that the former head of state had indeed died.

Despite being called a dictator by critics, Moi enjoyed strong support from many Kenyans and was seen as a uniting figure when he took power after founding President Jomo Kenyatta died in office in 1978. Some allies of the ailing Kenyatta, however, tried to change the constitution to prevent Moi, then the vice president, from automatically taking power upon Kenyatta’s death.

Moi was popularly known to Kenyans as Nyayo, a Swahili word for "footsteps", as he often said he was following in the footsteps of the first President, Jomo Kenyatta. He also earned the sobriquet "Professor of Politics" due to his long rule of 24 years, the longest in Kenyan history to date. At the age of 95, he was the oldest living former Kenyan president at the time of his death.