…Denies receiving N500M to scuttle Obi’s petition”.
The acting National Chairman of the crisis-ridden Labour Party (LP), Alhaji Basiru Lamidi Apapa, has said that the lack of respect for the rule of law by the Presidential candidate of the party in the February election, Mr Peter Gregory Obi was responsible for the leadership crisis rocking the party.
He said that the leadership crisis would not have erupted if Obi had withdrawn recognition from the suspended National Chairman of the party, Mr Julius Abure, based on the order of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
Apapa, however, asked Obi to wade into the dispute objectively to resolve the lingering crisis amicably.
Apapa, at a media briefing after his attack at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Wednesday, demanded that Obi be unbiased to resolve the disputed chairmanship tussle.
At the media briefing attended by the Deputy National Chairman of the party in the North, Mike Ayuba Auta, National Publicity Secretary, Olufemi Abayomi Arabambi and one of the women leaders Mrs Rukayat Salihu Umar, Apapa said that what happened at the Presidential Court in which altercation broke out in the presence of Peter Obi, was disgraceful and a test to Obi’s leadership quality.
Apapa said that the leadership crisis would have been put behind them if Obi had respected the order of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, which 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 leadership crisis, Apapa said that immediately after the order of the Court was served on the party, he was unanimously selected in an acting capacity as the National Chairman of the party.
He said it was wrong of Obi to be according to respect to Abure inspite of the order of the Court and as a presidential candidate seeking justice from the same Court of law.
On the alleged receipt of 500 million Naira from external forces to destabilize the party, Apapa vehemently denied receiving any money or being influenced by anybody or any group to work against the party.
He also said that it was wrong of Peter Obi to have claimed not to know him, adding that he worked closely with and even travelled on the same flights with Peter Obi throughout his Presidential electioneering campaign.
Therefore, he appealed to Obi to be open-minded, neutral and objective to stop the crisis.
Also speaking at the briefing, the Deputy National Chairman of the Party in the North, Mike Ayuba Auta, denied that the All Progressive Congress (APC) was behind the crisis, adding that the allegation was baseless and unfounded.
Auta apologized to Nigerians, who gave Labour Party over 6 million votes during the last presidential election, adding that they should not be discouraged by the current leadership crisis and assured that the dispute will soon be resolved.