Attackers who are yet to be identified firebombed and destroyed Tanzania’s main opposition CHADEMA party Headquarters in Arusha in a Thursday night raid, reports have confirmed.
The attack comes hours before the arrival the party’s presidential flag bearer, Lissu who is expected in Arusha and Kilimanjaro today looking for guarantors in his bid to challenge the incumbent, John Pombe Magufuli in the October elections.
The opposition leader and his party however remain resolute and said the attack will not divert them from their planned visit because it is intended to intimidate them.
“Our Northern Zone party HQ in Arusha has been firebombed and destroyed on the eve of my arrival in Arusha. Today’s timetable remains unchanged. No amount of terror and intimidation will stop this Tsunami for change in Tanzania. Arusha here we come” Tundu posted on social media.
The Fire and Rescue Force arrived at the scene and managed to put out the fire but the damage was enormous according to reports.
CHADEMA’s Tundu Lissu, has survived several assassination attempts before including one attempt in 2017 in which he almost lost both legs.
Lissu was arrested eight times in the year leading up to his attack and charged with incitement, among other alleged offences. His most recent arrest was in August 2017. He was released and shot more than two weeks later.
On September 7, Tundu Lissu, was shot multiple times and seriously injured by unknown assailants in the parking lot of his parliamentary residence in Area D, Dodoma. This happened merely weeks after Lissu declared publicly that certain people instructed by IGP Sirro and the Head of National Intelligence unit Mr Kipilimba, had been stalking him for weeks.
He was flown to Belgium to undergo treatment and hospitalized at the Leuven University Hospital in Gasthuisberg where he has reportedly undergone nineteen (19) operations to date before he returned to Tanzania.
He then fled to exile in Belgium where he had undergone treatment and returned to Tanzania mid last month before he was nominated as party flag-bearer in the upcoming elections.
CHADEMA chairman Freeman Mbowe dropped out of the presidential race after he and three other party members who initially said they would contest the presidency failed to pick and return nomination forms. Mbowe will seek to retain his current the parliamentary seat.
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