You’re not serious, end your case at election tribunal, Apapa faction tells Obi

INDEPENDENT 

ABUJA – As the Labour Party continues in efforts to reconcile its internal issues, the Lamidi Apapa group in the LP has asked Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election to dump his much talked about efforts to redeem his purported mandate at the presidential election petition tribunal.

The group said that the request has become necessary as the former Anambra State governor is not showing seriousness in his legal pursuit.

According to it, the election petition stepping down hearing in the petition filed by Obi and the Labour Party against the election of President Bola Tinubu remains a sign of unseriousness.

The group’s spokesman and former National Publicity Secretary of the party, Abayomi Arabambi, maintained that Obi has not been able to provide any concrete evidence to back these claims since PEPT began sitting.

He observed that Obi went to court to challenge the victory of Tinubu because the former governor of Anambra State and his co-travellers had different intentions as against the wishes of the Nigerian masses who freely offered their support to Labour Party.

He stated: “We have followed with keen interest the shameful developments and approach by the so-called legal team assembled by Peter Obi challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and we have, like many Nigerians, come to the conclusion that Obi is not only taking Nigerians for a ride but would continue to waste the hard-earned resources donated by Nigerians for this purpose to even enrich himself the more.

“Obi attempt to cage the sense of thinking of Nigerians by trickily obtaining money from them to fund the court process, making them to believe that there is something for him at the end of the day, must stop now.

“All of you here who have been following this case can recall that the day we had an altercation in court with Abure’s group, INEC announced that Peter Obi could not pay for CTC form EC08 and other documents to be for the election.

That now compelled them to only present only thirty per cent of the materials they would need for the hearing at the Election Petition Tribunal.

“How would any right-thinking person go to an election tribunal with only thirty per cent of your documents where not of all them would be accepted or agreed to be tendered by other political parties?

“Three days ago, they said two of their counsels were sick and yesterday they could not even file a single process with the array of SAN with Obi. This is what we have been saying that they are just trying to hoodwink the public, deceiving the Obidients and giving them false hope that they have something at the tribunal.

“It’s evident from the attitude displayed by them when they wrote a letter to INEC that Obi could not pay N1.5 million. Who are they deceiving? Councils were sick? Just two out of how many of them and they stalled a court process when time is already against our party.

Yesterday, the court had to give them a stand down of ten minutes to file their process. They came back and they could not do anything. You heard what the court told them. They are wasting the time of the court and they are not serious.”

Arabambi while declaring that the court has confirmed the fear of the Apapa faction, said the faction had raised alarm from the onset and has now been vindicated.