Former Zambian President Edgar Lungu is accusing President Hakainde Hichilema and the Zambia Police Inspector General of plotting to arrest and detain him\u00a0without justification.<\/p>\n
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, May 22, Lungu said the police are preparing to arrest him at night from his home in Lusaka.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026the police are under instructions to arrest me in the dark of the night any day by surprise!\u201d the post read.<\/p>\n
This follows Lungu’s controversial suggestion of a possible government change before the 2026 elections, seen by many as a threat. His statement has been condemned by political opponents and civil society groups.<\/p>\n
Police Chief Graphael Musamba stated that Lungu will be summoned to explain his “inciting” remarks. Local media report that the police are taking Lungu\u2019s statement seriously and are investigating.<\/p>\n
Lungu’s claims of house arrest and police harassment have raised concerns about democracy and human rights in Zambia. Lungu, a vocal critic of President Hakainde Hichilema\u2019s government, alleges persecution.<\/p>\n
The Patriotic Front, Lungu’s party, accuses the government of silencing opponents and calls for the release of Lungu and detained party members.<\/p>\n
He had retired from politics after losing the presidency to Hakainde Hichilema in 2021.<\/p>\n
The former leader has been accusing the government of victimizing him and members of his Patriotic Front (PF) party to block his return to politics.<\/p>\n
His wife, former First Lady Esther Lungu, has been accused of corruption involving cases of theft of motor vehicles and title deeds. She denies the allegations.<\/p>\n
Human rights organizations have called for restraint and urged the government to respect Lungu\u2019s rights, including freedom of expression.<\/p>\n
The situation is being monitored by regional and international observers worried about potential political instability. Zambia has a history of peaceful power transitions, and many hope this will continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Zambian President Edgar Lungu is accusing President Hakainde Hichilema and the Zambia Police Inspector General of plotting to arrest and detain him\u00a0without justification. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, May 22, Lungu said the police are preparing to arrest him at night from his home in Lusaka. \u201c\u2026the police are under instructions to arrest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":6,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"Africa News","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"0","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"0","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2362,33,30],"tags":[1489,536,394],"class_list":["post-11978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-politics","category-southern-africa","tag-edgar-lungu","tag-hakainde-hichilema","tag-zambia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}