A journalist, Marvin Chanda Mberi, has asked South Africa-based Nigerian pastor, Andrew Ejimadu, aka Seer 1, to stop inciting political unrest in Zambia.
Seer1, the founder of Christ Freedom Church, was once a political ally of Zambian President, Edgar Lungu for whom he campaigned during the country’s 2016 polls.
However, his relationship with the politician and some party members went sour and he was deported in the same year over the alleged rape of a teenage girl.
The flamboyant pastor who enjoys popularity in Zambia, insists his deportation, along with the rape charge, was politically motivated.
He moved to his current base in South Africa, from where he engages in critical offensives on social media at Zambian ruling politicians.
Last year, the Zambian government officials called on the Nigerian government to rein in the controversial preacher who is massively followed on social media in the region.
Ejimadu’s social media rhetoric remains a source of political angst in the country of 17 million people, the Lusaka Times journalist Mberi states in a circulating piece.
Mberi wrote, “Seer 1 has been presenting himself as a liberating figure to the citizens of Zambia” and has “targeted the gullible social media patrons, and innocently recruited them in his hate crusade against President Edgar Lungu and his sympathisers.
“It is heartbreaking to see how a foreigner is deceiving and convincing fellow citizens to hate their own brother Edgar Lungu, those close to him, and those who believe that he is the best leader of our time.
“To those who are opposed to President Lungu, Seer 1 seems to create an impression that he is their voice but in actual sense, he has taken a manipulative approach which may land this country in rabble-rousing and civil strife.
“He is inciting Zambians to hate fellow Zambians as vengeance for his protracted grudge against the PF government for having deported him from his newly discovered home in Zambia.
“The unfortunate fact is that some Zambians seem to constantly cheer his sustained attack to his perceived enemy, yet it is the future generations that will pay. We do not think his intentions are genuine and if they were, he would have utilised amicable channels such as the Nigerian embassy which has unfettered access to the Zambian Government.”
The journalist also alleged that Ejimadu’s “dream is to see a chaotic Zambia” and that “he has taken advantage of the politically charged season and he is determined to excite the incitable Zambians to rise against Zambians while he watches from the terraces.”
Zambia’s general elections have been scheduled to hold on August 12, 2021.
According to Mberi, Ejimadu has nothing to lose after inciting violence in the country, noting that Zambia has enough civil society groups to champion the cause of critical opposition in the country.
