The race for Mombasa county governor took a new direction on Monday, after former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko officially endorsed United Democratic Alliance part candidate Hassan Omar for the top seat.

Omar,a distinguished lawyer and human rights activist now enjoys full support from Sonko's supporters who were heartbroken after his bid for the Mombasa governor seat was suddenly halted by the supreme court.

Omar is seeking to dislodge a ten term ODM reign in the Coastal city.

The duo who spoke at a media briefing at the UDA Coast headquarters in Nyali, Mombasa, vowed to conduct extensive campaigns seeking to marshal enough votes in quest to capture Mombasa leadership.

This is as it emerged that both Sonko who was previously vying on a Wiper party ticket  and Omar are planning for a meeting to deliberate on how some of the candidates supporting the two may be forced to step down for popular candidates.

“My plan is not to bring divisions in Kenya Kwanza, that’s not true, what we are planning is to have  meeting to discuss how we can deliver victory for Mombasa people, we may consider some of stronger candidates to be on the ballot,” said Sonko

Sonko also asked Mombasa electorates to vote for deputy president Willian Ruto, who he said has demonstrated capability of uplifting the lives of Kenyans.

Sonko said his plan to withdraw support from Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga to William Ruto was out of his  personal choice.

Sonko said it remains his right to support deputy president William Ruto for presidency in the August 9 polls.

"I was  fought politically , but that is not the end of the world, it’s my right to join any political side,I joined Kenya Kwanza and there is no turning back,” said Sonko.

On his part Omar has hailed the former Nairobi governor, who has won many hearts through his philanthropy, saying Sonko's agenda resonates with that of Kenya Kwanza of uplifting the lives of the poor.

“Kenya Kwanza-Team Mombasa welcomes you to the winning team. Let's deliver a just and equitable Mombasa. Real change .Freedom is Coming,” said Omar in reference to Sonko backing his bid.

Omar is also set to capture the Mijikenda vote block which is the largest in Mombasa owing to his appointment of Selina Maitha, sister to former powerful cabinet minister Karisa Maitha.

The UDA team is preparing a mega rally at the Tononoka grounds on Thursday 4 to rally the people of the coast ahead of August 9 polls.

"We want to ask our people to start calm and not to be destructed by our opponents, we have a plan we will be holding our final rally in Tononoka on Thursday to rally our people,” said Omar.

Omar said part of his plan is to dismantle cartels in Mombasa and reverse transactions of projects that do not meet the standard.

Speaking at the same occasion Nyali Mp Mohamed Ali said his life has been threatened by his opponents when 13 young people were injured during a door to door campaign.

"If anything happens in Mombasa, related to security, we will blame the police for failing to provide security,” said Ali.

Ali said the Azimio la Umoja coalition has no agenda for the coastal region because they are the one to blame for the economic woes that have beleaguered the coastal region.

“We want to ensure that no Kenyan will be blocked or threatened from participating in the general elections,” said Ali.