“Who are you?” “Who are you too?” Apapa, Labour Party members clash at Presidential tribunal
…Apapa was stopped by the presiding judge from introducing himself as ‘acting chairman’
There was drama at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday when the two factions of the Labour Party clashed.
Trouble started when Lamidi Apapa, factional chairman of the party, walked into the court premises alongside some of his supporters.
Apapa who is locked in a battle with Julius Abure, suspended chairman of the party, had arrived at the court for the case of a petition that Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of the party, filed against the victory of President-elect Bola Tinubu.
He made attempted to sit where Labour Party officials were and a shouting match ensued.
“Who are you?” a party official asked Apapa, who fired back saying, “Who are you too?”
When the LP matter was called, Peter Obi and the party’s Women Leader, Dudu Manoga, introduced themselves on the record of the court.
But when Apapa stood up to introduce himself as the National Chairman, the presiding justice of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani requested him to stop the introduction as the court will not recognise the ‘National Chairman’ on record.
Abure, who sat next to Obi, did not, however, attempt to introduce himself.
Apapa had earlier vowed to take control of the party and to withdraw the petition and motions before the court ahead of the sitting following the ruling of an FCT High Court sustaining Abure’s suspension. The LP has since appealed the ruling.
During Wednesday’s sitting, the LP’s lawyers, the lawyers to Bola Tinubu, the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are expected to show the extent of their harmonisation of non-contentious issues and motions to be relied upon during the main hearing.
