THROWBACK: Bowman Lusambo’s terror made us run to the mosque, UPND candidate tells court
Bowman Lusambo’s terror made us run to the mosque, UPND candidate tells court
THE Ndola High Court has heard how a swarm of PF locusts turned a UPND campaign rally into a run-for-your-life marathon whose finish line was the carpeted floor of Kabushi Mosque.
This was during a petition hearing in which losing UPND candidate Bernard Kanengo insisted that PF’s Bowman Lusambo relied on violence and malpractice to retain the Kabushi Constituency seat in the August 12 polls.
After taking the witness stand, Kanengo told Justice Edward Musona sitting in Ndola that on the fateful day, he was addressing a rally which was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a frightened man screaming on top of his voice that Lusambo and his PF “NATO Forces” were on their way to attack the gathering.
Alarmed by the warning, Kanengo’s first thought was to secure the hired vehicle and the public address system but before he could even get around it, he saw a speeding Toyota Hilux with ladden with PF cadres driving towards him.
“One of them disembarked while holding a fire arm and he was shouting ‘We want Kanengo,” the UPND candidate narrated.
At the sight of beefy and mascular weapon-wielding cadre who didn’t recognize him at the time, Kanengo abandoned his plans to secure the hired equipment and immediately pitted himself against members of his campaign team Moses Mumba and Patrick Mwewa to demonstrate olympic running skills they never suspected they possessed.
The forced marathon eventually led the trio to Kabushi Mosque were delighted worshipers thought their guests had become the latest inclusion to the growing list of Muslims in Zambia.
However, after catching their breaths, the frightened “converts” explained that it was not the Adhaan – loud Muslim call to prayer – that had led them to the mosque but the fear of receiving a beating from Lusambo and his cadres.
CAPTION: File photo for illustration
Kalemba