Peter Obi Reveals His Position on Abure and Apapa and Addresses Labour Party Crisis.
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has backed the embattled national chairman, Mr. Julius Abure, amid the leadership crisis rocking the party.
According to Daily Post reports, Obi in a statement on Tuesday at the Labour Party National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Asaba, Delta State, said Abure remains his own man and would continue to support him.
Recall that the post-election crisis in the LP took another dimension a few days ago after the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, sealed its secretariat.
A Federal High Court, in Abuja, had ordered Abure to stay away from parading himself as the national chairman of the LP a week after a ward in the Edo State chapter of the party suspended him over alleged anti-party activities.
Immediately after the court order, LP’s national vice chairman, Lamido Bashir Apapa, who had been accused of being sponsored by opposition parties, took over the party in an acting capacity.
But in another twist, a High Court in Benin also gave an order restraining anybody from removing the embattled party chairman from his office.
However, when asked to comment on the leadership crisis rocking the LP and its embattled national chairman, Obi said, “The case is in court. I have respect for that, but he (Abure) remains my own man.”
Meanwhile, the Lamidi Apapa-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the Labour Party (LP) has cautioned Peter Obi, the governor-elect of Abia State, Alex Otti and legislators elected on the platform of the party, to distance themselves from the suspended National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure.
The Apapa faction made this known in a statement to journalists signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi.
The Labour Party accused the Abure led NWC, in collaboration with none members of the party’s NEC, including Peter Obi and others, of pushing for the suspension of members of the NWC in a meeting scheduled to hold in Asaba on Tuesday.
Arabambi warned that such action would only amount to contempt of court and all parties involved might as well risk jail term, especially when Abure and those to preside at the meeting have been restrained by court and are currently facing criminal charges in court.
Arabambi advise Peter Obi to concentrate on his case at the Election Petition Tribunal and allow the court to complete its proceedings on Julius Abure and other members of the party’s NWC.
