The Labour Party’s Lamidi Apapa faction has recommended the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to seek another political platform to pursue its presidential ambitions ahead of the 2027 elections.
The Apapa group, whose legitimacy was just confirmed by the Edo Division of the Court of Appeal, announced that it had begun looking for another presidential candidate ahead of the 2027 election.
Abayomi Arabambi, the faction’s spokesman, revealed this in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
Arambambi spoke against the backdrop of Obi’s Supreme Court appeal on Tuesday, which challenged the Presidential Election Petitions Court’s judgement, which recognised President Bola Tinubu as the victor of the 2023 presidential election.
The Apapa-led LP faction has distanced itself from Obi and the Julius Abure faction’s determination to contest Tinubu’s victory in court.
Apapa was certified the genuine National Chairman of the Labour Party by the Edo division of the Court of Appeal on August 14.
Arabambi told our correspondent on Wednesday that Obi should not waste his time seeking an appeal against Tinubu’s Supreme Court triumph.
Obi definitely lost the election, he claims, due to his poor misuse of human resources.
“My advice is for him (Obi) to go and start preparing for 2027,” Arabambi stated. But it must be in a different party, not the LP. We’re not going to let this kind of nonsense continue in 2027. As far as we are concerned, we will seek a new candidate.
“Obi is free to run for the APGA again, not the Labour Party.” We don’t want to keep appeasing a guy who believes no one, but himself, has anything upstairs. He is a poor human resource manager. That’s why he lost so badly.
“Let me ask Obi who is accusing President Bola Tinubu of certificate fraud.” Obi stated that he holds a B.Sc. Did he include the B.Sc. in his application? Wasn’t that the school diploma he scribbled there? Why is he concealing his own B.Sc? That’s because he was aware that they may summon the vice chancellor or the registrar to prove its validity.”
Yunusa Tanko, spokeswoman for the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, downplayed Arabambi’s warning, saying, “They (the Apapa faction) do not own the Labour Party.” That is why I don’t want to argue with them. There is no need to pay attention to these folks.”
Read Also: Police impose 24-hour curfew as tribunal dismisses Kano’s governor
In addition, the LP’s National Legal Adviser, Kehinde Edun, chastised the Apapa faction, claiming that the Independent National Electoral Commission recognised the Abure faction.
“Do they have any authority over the party?” he asked. They are suspended party members. So, how will they decide who will be the flag bearer? These individuals have turned to comedians.
“The statutory authority to monitor and keep records of political party activities is INEC.” So, to whom are they going to deliver the candidate? It is the same INEC, and the election umpire can accept nominations only from the party’s recognised National Executive Committee. It is also the national chairman’s responsibility to nominate any candidate.
“As of today, the party’s recognised leadership is the one led by Abure, not Apapa or whatever they call themselves.” Nothing they say has an effect on us. They’re just imposters and comedians pretending to be something they’re not. We know they’ll run out of steam shortly. Nigerians are no longer taking them seriously because they can see through their shenanigans.”
