Former President of Zambia, Edgar Lungu, has deactivated his Facebook account a week after leaving office.
Lungu, 64, had led the East African nation from 2015 to 2021, leaving office after failing to win reelection and losing by a landslide to opposition party candidate – now President – Hakainde Hichilema in the August 12 presidential polls.
Since leaving office, some people have stormed Lungu’s Facebook page making mean comments and jokes. Zambians on Twitter believe the former president deactivated his Facebook account because of cyberbullying.
As of Tuesday, August 31, Lungu’s Twitter account is still available with some comments on his religious posts mocking him.
His Twitter account has a lesser following compared to Facebook’s – having more than 167,000 followers.
Meanwhile, a Patriotic Front party’s member of parliament, Peter Phiri, has lauded Lungu’s achievement while in office, saying he’s the only president who has taken Zambia to another level.
He thanked Lungu for conceding defeat since people spoke through the ballot and there was nothing he could do.
He said, “People have spoken through the ballot, there is nothing he can do, he has to accept it. He has done his race. Edgar Changwa Lungu has worked, maybe people didn’t want his leadership, maybe people who were surrounding him were giving him wrong advice…he is the only president who has taken Zambia to another level.
“We can say UNIP did a lot but by that time, the population can’t be compared to now, MMD worked but did not consider putting infrastructure according to the population but Edgar Lungu has worked compared to the population in wards and the nation at large. Edgar has challenged load-shedding by installing new turbines and today load-shedding is no more. We will really miss him as he has done great things for this nation. I just wish him well in whatever he will be doing in life.”
