Labour Party Crisis Escalates As Factions Clash At Presidential Election Tribunal

By Akinwale Kasali

The crisis rocking the Labour Party, LP, has further escalated as the Party made a mockery of itself at the ongoing Presidential Election Tribunal in Abuja, the nation’s Capital.

The factions of LP National Chairman, Julius Abure and that of the purported Acting Chairman, Lamidi Apapa, were at each other’s neck with boos and heated exchange of words.

The Abure faction had resisted the media from granting an interview to Apapa as they blocked the interview with chants of “Ole, thief, and many other invectives were used in attacking him.

It took the intervention of the Police to ward off the determined protesters who followed him out.

Before this, Justice Haruna Tsammani, the Presiding Judge at the Presidential Election Tribunal refused to recognise any representative of the Labour Party except the 1st petitioner, Peter Obi, who was in court.

The reason for this was the discovery of a disagreement by the Judge among the LP representatives at the Court that included the two factions.

When the matter was called, Obi stood up to announce his appearance followed by Dudu Manuga, the National Women’s Leader of the Party who sat close to Obi.

Meanwhile, Before the Court could record Manuga on the list, Lamidi Apapa quickly stood up to announce his appearance as the representative of the Labour Party.

However, Justice Haruna interjected and said, ” It appears there was a little disagreement… We are not recognizing any representative from the party.”

The Apapa led faction is saying that the ruling of a High Court of the FCT, suspending the Abure-led faction, remains.

The Court rose and  adjourned to 19th May for the continuation of the pre-hearing of Peter Obi’s petition.