The acting chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Lamidi Apapa, has instructed the party’s legal team at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) in Abuja to provide him with a report.
This directive was issued on Friday, as he declared himself in charge of the Labour Party, following a court ruling affirming his position as acting chairman.
Within the next 48 hours, Apapa has directed the LP’s legal representatives in the presidential election tribunal to meet with him and provide a briefing.
He said
I am so pleased that justice has taken place today because under normal circumstances, we will begin to doubt but today, we’re happy that the judge has acted broadly and reasonably,” Apapa said.
“There’s no doubt that I am now in charge. It has now been confirmed by the court that I have the right to be in charge until another order is taken place.
“As of today, I am the acting chairman of the party and anybody who parads himself apart from myself is acting illegally.
“And I want to tell the whole world that come next Friday, the real suit will start when the issues of forgery, conspiracy and so on and so forth will commence and from there, we will know if actually that offense has been committed or not.
“I want to use this opportunity once again to tell the whole world that the tribunal that is going on, I want to invite all the lawyers that are representing the Labour Party, that they should come for briefing.
“They should come and give me an update about what is happening in that tribunal within the next 48 hours, because right now, I am the person on the driver’s seat.
“And I am fully in charge, I am giving this opportunity for them to know that as the acting national chairman of the party, this is the order.”
On April 5, a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court issued an order prohibiting Julius Abure from presenting himself as the LP’s national chairman. Additionally, the party’s Secretary, Farouk Ibrahim, and two others were also prevented from acting as national officials, including the National Organizing Secretary, Clement Ojukwu, and the Treasurer, Oluchi Opara.
In response to the court order, Lamidi Apapa, who was the deputy national leader of the LP (south), declared himself as the party’s national chairman. However, some LP state chairmen disowned Apapa, referring to him as a factional leader, and instead backed Abure as the LP chairman.
The Apapa-led national executive committee (NEC) of the LP then suspended Apapa for engaging in “anti-party activities, contravening the constitution of the party, running a parallel leadership, and damaging the reputation of the party.
