Article Summary
- LP faction called on security agencies to arrest Peter Obi or any of its members that calls for interim government or moves to stop Tinubu’s inauguration on May 29 as president.
- It stated that the case filed by Peter Obi and Abure faction challenging the victory of Tinubu and APC wasn’t done in good faith and questioned why they are not challenging the results of PDP that came second.
- Apapa gave the party’s lawyers handling its election petition 48 hours to come and brief him on the ongoing petition, with his faction insisting they are interested in withdrawing the suit.
The leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party (LP) appears to have deepened as the Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the party has called on the security agencies to arrest any of its members including its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, calling for an interim government.
The LP faction said that nothing can stop the inauguration of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, as the next president on May 29.
The call was made by the National Publicity Secretary of the Lamidi Apapa-led faction of LP, Abayomi Arabambi, while speaking to journalists in Abuja after the Federal High Court judgment affirmed the suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, and re-affirmed Apapa as the Acting National Chairman of the party.
The LP faction, who called on the Nigerian Military, the Inspector-General of Police and the DSS to immediately arrest anyone moving and clamouring to stop the transition process and May 29 inauguration, said that the call for an interim government was an attempt to throw the country into crisis.
Nobody is above the law
- Arabambi said, “Anyone calling for interim government including Peter Obi should be arrested. We are calling on the Inspector General of Police to arrest them because nobody is above the law.
- “You cannot plunge Nigeria into war and say that you want to rule the country. We in the Labour Party are saying capital ‘no’ to that. We don’t understand the call by Peter Obi that the President-elect, Sen Bola Ahmed Tinubu should not be sworn in on May 29th. As far as we are concerned, the LP came third in that election behind the PDP.”
Questions why Labour Party is not challenging PDP
Insisting that the Apapa-led faction was not interested in withdrawing the suit filed by the party at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Arabambi, nonetheless, said that the case filed by Obi and Abure faction challenging the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) wasn’t done in good faith.
- He stated: “We came third in that election behind the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and we are not even challenging PDP in the tribunal, that means we are saying the vote allocated to the PDP is correct in the eyes of the law.
- “Both Obi and Abure deliberately excluded PDP in the suit but are now challenging APC. Why is he not challenging the PDP? Obi as far as we are concerned is not doing anything in the election petition, he is only trying to play on people’s intelligence.”
LP faction gives lawyers 48 hours to brief the party
Speaking on the directive by Apapa to the party’s lawyers handling its election petition to within 48 hours come to brief him on the ongoing petition, Arabambi warned that failure to honour the summons would lead to a change of lawyers.
- He added, “I want to assure Nigerians that the Apapa-led executive is not interested in withdrawing any matter, but as the chairman confirmed on Friday, he has the right to know what is going on. This is because the number one claimant is Obi and the second claimant is the LP. So, Obi is not LP and cannot manage the affairs of our party.
- “If the lawyers do not honour our 48hrs ultimatum, we will go through the next line and appoint our own lawyers who will now take over the LP matter and we will now be doing it side by side with Obi.”