LP crisis: I didn’t receive N500m to destabilise party ― Apapa

The factional National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Lamidi Apapa, has denied receiving N500 million from any quarters in order to scuttle the case of the party at the Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja.

Apapa, however, urged the presidential candidate of the Labour party in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, to intervene in the leadership tussle of the party with a view to resolving it.

Briefing newsmen after escaping being lynched by irate youths at the tribunal in Abuja on Wednesday, May 17, Apapa denied receiving any money or being influenced by anybody or group to work against the party.

He said Obi must be unbiased and objective in handling the crisis in order to resolve the leadership tussle.

Apapa decried the incident at the tribunal in the presence of Obi, describing it as disgraceful and a test to the LP candidate’s leadership quality.

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The factional chairman said the leadership crisis would have been put behind them if the presidential candidate had respected an order of the FCT High Court.

The FCT High Court had ordered Julius Abure and three others from parading themselves as national officers of the party over their indictment for forgery and perjury.

Tracing the genesis of the crisis, Apapa said immediately after the order of the court was served on the parties, he was unanimously selected to lead the party in an acting capacity.

He stated that it was wrong for Obi to be according respect to Abure in spite of the order of the court and as a presidential candidate seeking justice from the same court of law.

He implored Obi to be open-minded and neutral in order to end the crisis.

In attendance at the briefing were the Deputy National Chairman of the Party in the North, Mike Auta, the National Publicity Secretary, Olufemi Arabambi, and the Acting Women Leader, Rukkayat Salihu.

Also speaking, Auta denied that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was behind the crisis bewildering the Labour Party, adding that the allegation was baseless and unfounded.

He added that the Apapa-led faction has no intention of withdrawing the petition at the tribunal in Abuja.

Auta apologised to Nigerians who he said gave the party over six million votes during the 2023 presidential election, saying they should not be discouraged by the current leadership crisis, assuring it would soon be over.

He further assured that the dispute would be resolved amicably.

The Star