Akpata Denies Involvement In Abure’s Arrest

By Akinwale Kasali

Labour Party, LP, Governorship Candidate in the upcoming Edo State Gubernatorial Election, Olumide Akpata, has denied any involvement in the travails of the Party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure.

Abure and four other members of the Party were arrested by officials of the Edo State Police Command over alleged murder threat and other infractions.

Akpata  in a statement, slammed another aspirant of the party, Mr Kenneth Imansuangbon, for making “reckless unfounded comments” linking him with Abure’s arrest.

“I have been made aware of reckless and unfounded comments made by Mr Kenneth Imasuagbon in the press (yesterday) February 21, 2024, where he accused me of being behind the recent arrest and detention of Comrade Julius Abure, National Chairman of the Labour Party, Comrade Kelly Ogbaloi, Edo State Chairman of the Labour Party, and other party officials by the Nigeria Police Force.

“Let me categorically state that these allegations made by Mr. Imasuagbon, who claims to be a lawyer and should, therefore, know better, are completely false and, frankly, very irresponsible. I had no involvement whatsoever in the arrests he referred to.

“As we have been told by the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police”.

The LP governorship aspirant expressed concern over the arrest of the Party’s National Chairman and other party officials barely 48 hours to the Party’s  Governorship Primary election in Edo State, just as he expressed worry over the delay of the release of the party’s delegates’ list of the ward congresses conducted last Tuesday.

Meanwhile members of the civil society group condemned what they described as police brutality meted against Abure.

Reacting to Abure’s ordeal, Barrister Abraham Oviawe said all Nigerians of good conscience must rise and condemned the way and manner the National Chairman of the LP was arrested in a gestapo-like manner adding that an injury to one is an injury to all.

“Iam not a member of the Labour party, we saw the chairman of the party being harassed over an allegation which took place while he was not in Nigeria. We are very disturbed that a man who enjoys such a position is deserving of an invitation, he is known, his address is not spurious.

“We equally condemned that attack on the petitioner but we feel that to correct what has been done wrong to the petitioner is not to create another problem. We feel that the national chairman of the Labour party deserves an apology. We know that the Police and its collaborators at the appropriate time will pay for the damage done”.

Also, the duo of Marxist Kola Edokpayi and Comrade Olu Martins called on the Nigerian also condemned the inhuman treatment meted against Abure as crude and unintelligence and ludicrous.

Abure and colleagues have since been released on bail.