Apapa: Only LP candidates endorsed by me’ll feature in guber polls

Labour Party (LP) factional leader, Lamidi Apapa, says only candidates endorsed by him would feature in the November 11 governorship elections in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo states.

Apapa said this in Abuja on Thursday while speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, noting that the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Owerri, the Imo State capital, has affirmed him as the authentic LP National Chairman.

He said the court also sacked the Julius Abure-led faction and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise governorship candidates produced by his faction for the election.

Apapa stated: “You will recall that on April 5 the FCT High Court restrained Abure and others from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

“As a result, the party appointed the Deputy National Chairman Alhaji Lamidi Apapa as the acting national chairman of the party pursuant to its constitution.

READ ALSO: Appeal Court sacks Abure, declares Apapa LP National Chairman

“Sequel to that the party under my leadership wrote to INEC changing its date of primary election earlier scheduled by Abure from April 15 to April 16.

“Notwithstanding the fact that he was under a restraining order, Abure still went ahead to conduct his primaries for Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa on those dates.”

Apapa said on the other hand, his faction conducted primaries on April 16, making it two primaries conducted by the LP in the states.

He added: “Peeved by the primary conducted by me, a candidate who participated in the Abure primary took my candidate to court whilst maintaining that Abure’s candidates were the authentic ones.

“The case was frantically defended, and the Federal High Court, Owerri Division, declared the primaries conducted by me as the authentic candidate as Abure was under a restraining order as at the time he screened candidates and conducted his primaries.”

Apapa stated that the Court of Appeal had also affirmed the judgement of the Federal High Court that Abure’s conduct was contemptuous as he was under a restraining order when he conducted the said primaries.

“That restraining order is still in force even at the time this judgement was delivered,” he said.

The Star