Labour Party factions brawl at Presidential Election Petition Court + video

There was mild drama at the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC) sitting in Abuja on Wednesday when two factions of the Labour Party clashed.

Supreme reports that trouble started as early as about 7:45 a.m. when both factions, comprising members loyal to the factional chairman, Mr. Lamidi Apapa, and those loyal to the suspended Julius Abure, arrived at the court.

There was an exchange of words between both factions, spearheaded by Apapa and Mr. Jude Umeokeke, over which faction had the legal right to be present in court.

Eventually, the Apapa-led faction moved away from the corner designed for petitioners and sat in the main hall of the courtroom, leaving the Abure-led faction at the corner.

When the matter was called, the presiding judge, Justice Haruna Tsammani, refused to recognize any representative for the LP since Apapa and Mrs. Dudu Malunga had introduced themselves as representatives of the party.

Shortly after proceedings, as newsmen were set to conduct an interview with the Apapa-led faction, supporters loyal to Abure mounted guard and blocked Apapa from approaching the cameras.

In spite of pleas from the newsmen that both sides would be heard, the supporters maintained their ground and resisted, saying that Apapa was not the LP chairman and would not speak on its behalf.

The Abure loyalists shouted and dragged Apapa all over the place, shouting, “You must not talk; you are an impostor, a thief, a thief.

It took the intervention of a large number of security personnel to contain the pandemonium as they battled to free Apapa from the irate youth.

The security personnel succeeded in wrestling Apapa from the youths and taking him back into the courtroom to avoid him being lynched by the youths.