KAMPALA – The Kyadondo East Member of Parliament has paid tribute to the fallen Candia Luiji, the proprietor of Pacific hotel in Arua where he [Bobi] was staying before he was arrest and allegedly torture last year.
Bobi Wine in a statement said “As we all recall, police and military officers came out parading guns and bullets which they claimed to have been found in my room. Apparently, every attempt was made to compromise Mr. Luiji so that he lies that I had the weapons and testifies against me before the military court. Mr. Luiji stood his ground and refused to lie against me.”
He says they turned to some police officers who they summoned to record statements and claim they found him with guns.
“One of them pretended that he was drunk for an entire week and refused to make the statement. It was after they realized that they were not making any headway that they dropped those gun charges. This proved to me that indeed, we still have some very good people in our country. Not all is lost!” he added.
Bobi Wine said that being the key witness, Mr. Luiji would have testified against him and probably received any amount of wealth from the state but he refused to lie.
“Today my heart bleeds. I am very pained at the passing of Mr. Luiji who would have testified against me and received any amount of wealth from the state – but he refused to lie against an innocent man. From the time he refused to cooperate with them in their evil scheme, we’ve been receiving reports that his life was never the same. He received a lot of threats, persecution and intimidation- but he held on,” said Uganda’s influential legislator.
He added that “As we wait to know what exactly caused his death, I pray for comfort upon his family and friends. May your good works follow you sir, and may your memory be blessed. I know that when the annals of our country’s history are written, your name will appear amongst those few who remained honest and steadfast even during the darkest of days. Fare thee well.”
Mr. Luiji has passed on at Mulago National Referral Hospital on Sunday morning at the age of 69.
According to a family member, Candia suffered a stroke in Arua on Wednesday, this week, and was transferred first to St Francis Hospital Nsambya in Kampala, before being moved to Mulago.
But doctors told relatives Candia had suffered brain damage as a result of the stroke, rendering him unable to speak in his last days.
