Julius Abure has called on the supporters of the Labour Party (LP) to be prepared to back the party in the event the presidential election petition tribunal orders a rerun of the 2023 presidential election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the closely-fought February 25 election.
But the LP's third-placed Peter Obi and second-placed Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have mounted separate spirited legal challenges against the victory of the former Lagos State governor.
The candidates have separately asked the tribunal to declare them the legitimate winner, or order a fresh election, possibly with Tinubu disqualified.
But during an online meeting with the Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy on Monday, July 10, Abure, the LP chairman, said he has information the APC is already preparing for a rerun election.
"Rumours have it that those in government are already planning for rerun and this is one of the support we will be canvasing from you.
"We should also be getting prepared because since all those in government are already preparing for rerun we too should not be taken unawares.
"So we will be needing your engagement and support on this aspect if par adventure it happens today, that the election is nullified," he said.
Despite his clamour for support, Abure noted that the party is more interested in Obi being declared as the winner of the February contest, and isn't interested in a rerun verdict.
He said the party has put convincing evidence before the court to prove the former Anambra State governor won the election ahead of Tinubu and Atiku.
"We believe strongly that we won that election given the statistics we have, given the result we have, we are not expecting anything less than the declaration of Peter Obi as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," he said.
The LP's legal team closed its case against Tinubu at the tribunal in late June and Tinubu's legal team closed its defence in early July. A tribunal verdict is expected in a number of weeks, but the case is expected to go all the way to the Supreme Court.