It’s wonderful to be free - Capt Solo

It’s wonderful to be free - Capt Solo
By Chibaula Silwamba
Mon 03 Jan. 2011, 04:02 CAT

IT is wonderful to be free and this is because of God’s will, says Captain Steven Lungu aka Capt Solo. And Capt Solo says he was absolutely a pawn in the 1997 coup.

Giving a testimony during a church service at Hope in Christ Prison Community Service Centre in Lusaka yesterday, Capt Solo, the mastermind of the 1997 failed coup after his release from prison on Wednesday, said it was God’s will to have him freed from jail.

He said he did not expect to be released, adding that he appreciated the efforts of Cabinet ministers that counselled President Rupiah Banda.

Capt Solo, who quoted several biblical scriptures, said God was in control of his life and he would preach His word.

He said it was when one was going through trial that God showed His power.

“God holds our destiny. The road may be rough but we are more than conquerors in the name of Jesus Christ,” Capt Solo said. “I thank the President and his Cabinet for the work they are doing. Let us pray day and night so that the President and Cabinet could do something very good.”

He said it would be good to remove the death penalty from the Constitution.

He said it was not good for people to be hanged.

Capt Solo recalled the execution of former Iraq president Saddam
Hussein that was televised worldwide as a sad incident that made even the people that hated him cry.
Capt Solo urged soldiers to be loyal.

He said the time he commandeered the soldiers to topple former president Frederick Chiluba, he was behaving like a robot without revealing who used him.

“I could not resist the forces of evil because I did not know that there was such a force…I was absolutely blind. Now that my eyes are open, I believe nothing of such nature can come from me,” Capt Solo said. “My being here, the Lord is aware of my destiny.”

He said he regretted that he did not listen to his mother, who emphasised that he follows Christian values.
He said he wants to reconcile with Chiluba but it had always been hard for him to meet him.

“I believe my brother late Capt Jack Chiti did it even on my behalf,” said Capt Solo.

Capt Solo asked for forgiveness from people he might have offended and that he had forgiven those who offended him.

“The children I left, babies, are now my friends,” said Capt Solo, who was accompanied by his sons Chibale 20, Charles 17 and Palaya 15.

Home affairs minister Mkhondo Lungu last Wednesday announced the release of Capt Solo, whose death sentence was commuted to 20 years imprisonment by late president Levy Mwanawasa.

Capt Solo, late Capt Chiti and several other soldiers staged a coup to topple then president Chiluba from power in 1997 but it was thwarted in less than three hours.