A group of the Labour Party, led by Lamidi Apapa, has requested that Peter Obi withdraw his complaint against President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT). Peter Obi was the party’s presidential candidate in the most recent general elections.
Following an incident at the tribunal on Thursday, where the court reprimanded Obi and the Labour Party for a lack of preparedness in their petitions and subsequently stepped down the hearing, the faction provided the advice on Friday, June 2, 2023.
The faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi, claimed the development supported their claim that Obi isn’t taking his legal battle seriously when speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday.
Arabambi also claimed that since the PEPT hearings started, the Labour Party presidential candidate had not offered any specific evidence to support his claims. She claimed that Obi and his cohorts were out to thwart the wishes of the Nigerian people, who had freely given their support to the party.
He stated, “We have, like many Nigerians, come to the conclusion that Obi is not only taking Nigerians for a ride but would continue to waste the hard-earned resources donated by Nigerians for this purpose to even enrich himself. We have followed with keen interest the shameful developments and approach by the so-called legal team assembled by Peter Obi challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“All of you here who have been following this case can recall that the day we had an altercation in court with (Julius) Abure’s group, INEC announced that Peter Obi could not pay for CTC form EC08 and other documents. That now compelled them to only present 30 per cent of the materials they would need for the hearing at the Election Petition Tribunal.
“How would any right-thinking person go to an election tribunal with only 30 per cent of documents where none of them would be accepted or agreed to be tendered by other political parties?
“Three days ago, they said two of their counsels were sick and yesterday (Thursday), they could not even file a single process with the array of SANs with Obi. This is what we have been saying that they are just trying to hoodwink the public, deceiving the Obidients and giving them false hope that they have something at the tribunal.
“It’s evident from the attitude displayed by them when they wrote a letter to INEC that Obi could not pay N1.5 million. Who are they deceiving? Counsel was sick?
“That’s why we have consistently maintained that Obi is not serious. He came into the party with nothing. He didn’t fund the election, he didn’t fund the party, and he didn’t do anything for the party. He only came to mess up the entire process and to deceive Nigerians that he has something to offer to them.
“Labour Party is thereby calling on him to step down his selfish ambition and stop messing up the party if he has nothing serious to present to the tribunal.”
