Labour Party Conflict: Apapa denies receiving N500m

The factional National Chairman of the Labour Party, Mr. Lamidi Apapa, has denied receiving N500 million from any quarters in order to scuttle the case of the party at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).

Apapa has also asked the presidential candidate of the party in the Feb. 25 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi, to intervene objectively in the leadership tussle of the party with a view to resolving it.

Briefing newsmen after escaping being lynched by irate youths at the PEPC on Wednesday in Abuja, Apapa denied receiving any money or being influenced by anybody or any group to work against the party.

He said that Obi must be unbiased and objective in handling the crisis in order to resolve the leadership tussle.

Apapa decried what happened at the PEPC in the presence of Obi, describing it as disgraceful and a test of Obi’s leadership qualities.

The factional chairman said that the leadership crisis would have been put behind them if the presidential candidate had respected an order of the FCT High Court.

The FCT High Court had ordered Julius Abure and three others to refrain from parading themselves as national officers of the party over their indictments for forgery and perjury.

Tracing the genesis of the crisis, Apapa said that immediately after the order of court was served on the parties, he was unanimously selected to lead the party in an acting capacity.

He said that it was wrong for Obi to show respect to Abure in spite of the order of the court and as a presidential candidate seeking justice from the same court of law.

He implored Obi to be open-minded and neutral in order to end the crisis.

In attendance at the briefing were the Deputy National Chairman of the Party in the North, Mr. Mike Auta, the National Publicity Secretary, Olufemi Arabambi, and the Acting Women Leader, Rukkayat Salihu.

For his part, Autadenied that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was behind the crisis, adding that the allegation was baseless and unfounded.

He also said that the Apapa-led faction had no intention of withdrawing the petition at the PEPC.

Auta apologized to Nigerians, who he said gave the party over six million votes during the presidential election, sayingthey should not be discouraged by the current leadership crisis as it would soon be over.

He gave the assurance that the dispute would be resolved amicably.

Supreme reports that earlier, there was drama at the PEPC when two factions of the Labour Party clashed over which faction had the right to be present in court.

The drama led to Apapa receiving some punches before he was whisked away by security personnel to safety.

The trial judge, Justice Haruna Tsammani, adjourned the party's case until Friday.

When asked if he would be present at Friday’s sitting in spite of what happened in court on Wednesday, Apapa answered in the affirmative, adding that he would be barred by security personnel.