Labour Party’s factions react differently to the PEPC judgement
The two different factions of the Labour Party (LP) on Wednesday reacted differently to the dismissal of the petition of the party and its Presidential candidate, Peter Obi against the election of President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) by the Presidential Election Petition Court
While the Julius Abure-led faction of the party said that justice was not served in the case, the Lamidi Apapa-led faction said the petition itself was a “wild goose” and was a shame that the legal team of Peter Obi failed to advise him properly before going to the tribunal.
Obiora Ifoh, the National Publicity Secretary of the Abure faction, in a press statement, the party is rejecting the judgment in its entirety because justice was not served and it did not reflect the law and the desire of the people.
“The Labour Party watched with dismay and trepidation the dismissal of petitions by the five-man panel of the Presidential Election Petition Court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani today and we reject the outcome of the judgment in its entirety because justice was not served and it did not reflect the law and the desire of the people.
“Nigerians were witnesses to the electoral robbery that took place on February 25, 2023, which was globally condemned but the Tribunal in its wisdom refused to accept the obvious. “What is at stake is democracy and we will not relent until the people will prevail. “We salute the doggedness of our team of lawyers who fearlessly exposed the wrath in our system.
“We can only weep for democracy in Nigeria but we refuse to give up on Nigeria. “Details of the party’s position will be presented after consultation with our lawyers after the Certified True Copy. “We urge all lovers of democracy to remain focused and hopeful because a new Nigeria is possible.”
On its part, the Apapa faction, in a press statement by Dr Abayomi Arabambi, its National Publicity Secretary, said the party accepts the verdict without any bias.
“Peter Obi has just gone on a wild goose chase, imaging the candidate that failed to fund the Party to engage the number of required polling agents, Also the filing of the witnesses outside the stipulated time has shown that the legal team is a failure.
“Some of us have been saying that Peter Obi decided to go to the tribunal to justify all the money he collected during the campaign, all that money was corruptly syphoned,” the statement said.
Arabambi went on to point out the grounds on which the LP petition was dismissed stating that the outcome was expected by many.
“Our party is also in tandem with the tribunal that the Claim By The Labour Party Concerning the Blurred 18,088 results sheets is totally unfounded as the party ought to have agents at every polling unit who will have a copy of the result sheet.
“How does anyone claim to have won an election based solely on pejoratives, assumption, vague rhetorics and zero evidence pointing to such being the case, but on the expectation that the actual winner would be disqualified and by some stroke of black magic the candidate in the 3rd place will suddenly be declared winner, without any proof of having scored the majority vote is absolute rascality on display by Peter Obi and Julius Abure.”
