Ringtone Arrested After Leading 15 Goons To Storm Karen Home

Controversial gospel musician, Alex Apoko, alias Ringtone, was on Friday, July 21 arrested and taken into custody at Lang'ata police station.

The arrest followed an alleged invasion at a residential area in Karen, Nairobi in the company of thugs, which raised eyebrows across the country and on social media.

Speaking to Viral Tea, Kongkong Matip, one of the owners of a private home belonging to a South Sudanese family, revealed that he had inherited the palatial home following the death of their father in 2012.

The family, he added, had to return to South Sudan for their father's burial and had taken them some time before they returned to Nairobi where they settled.

Musician Ringtone in a police car following his arrest in Karen on July 21, 2023. /COURTESY

"We were also unfortunately saddened by the crisis of the civil war in our country in 2013. We were still living there and I left my brother there in early 2014, but around mid-2014 one of our brothers evacuated my little brothers, claiming that he wanted to rent the house.

"Since then they vandalised the house. Our cars disappeared," he explained.

In 2016, Matip and his family were locked out of accessing the house, a matter which prompted him to file a report, which did not bear fruits, forcing him to return to South Sudan.

"That is when I heard that Alex Apoko had gained access to the house. I reported it to our embassy," he added. 

The Fagia hitmaker was thereafter found by the South Sudanese family having gained access to the house alongside some tenants on Thursday, July 20, which hampered their chances of getting in.

"We filed a report with Lang'ata Police Station last week and he was summoned. He never showed up...We got access to the house," Matip lamented.

The South Sudanese national further claimed that Ringtone did not possess any title deed to the land as well as documentation showing proof of ownership to the house and chaotic scenes ensued on Friday, July 21 when he showed up with about 15 goons after they took back their house and dismantled their property. 

Luckily, the original owners who were however injured had called the police who came and picked him up to take him to Lang'ata police station where he is in custody.

Ringtone is no stranger to controversy and messy clashes. On July 23, 2021, the musician was involved in a street fight along Nairobi's Oliotoktok Road with Kileleshwa Member of County Assembly (MCA) Robert Alai which ended up in court after the singer accused the politician of assaulting him.

The singer had alleged that trouble began after Alai refused to give way at a junction when the traffic lights turned green.

The MCA, in videos seen by Viral Tea at the time, was captured getting out of his vehicle with a wooden club which Ringtone claimed was used to attack him.