&w=64&q=75)
A faction of the Labour Party, led by Lamidi Apapa, has asked the party's presidential candidate in the last general elections, Peter Obi, to withdraw his case against President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
The faction gave the advice on Friday, June 2, 2023, following the incident which happened at the tribunal on Thursday where the court chided Obi and the Labour Party for lack of preparation in their petitions and thereby stepped down the hearing.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, the National Publicity Secretary of the faction, Abayomi Arabambi, said the development vindicated their position that Obi is not serious about his court case.
Arabambi added that the Labour Party presidential candidate has failed to provide any concrete evidence to back his claims since the PEPT began hearing, alleging that Obi's motive, as well as his co-travellers, is to scuttle the wishes of the Nigerian masses who freely offered their support to the party.
He said, “We have followed with keen interest the shameful developments and approach by the so-called legal team assembled by Peter Obi challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission and we have, like many Nigerians, come to the conclusion that Obi is not only taking Nigerians for a ride but would continue to waste the hard-earned resources donated by Nigerians for this purpose to even enrich himself the more.
“All of you here who have been following this case can recall that the day we had an altercation in court with (Julius) Abure’s group, INEC announced that Peter Obi could not pay for CTC form EC08 and other documents. That now compelled them to only present 30 per cent of the materials they would need for the hearing at the Election Petition Tribunal.
“How would any right-thinking person go to an election tribunal with only 30 per cent of documents where none of them would be accepted or agreed to be tendered by other political parties?
“Three days ago, they said two of their counsels were sick and yesterday (Thursday), they could not even file a single process with the array of SANs with Obi. This is what we have been saying that they are just trying to hoodwink the public, deceiving the Obidients and giving them false hope that they have something at the tribunal.
“It’s evident from the attitude displayed by them when they wrote a letter to INEC that Obi could not pay N1.5 million. Who are they deceiving? Counsel was sick?
“That’s why we have consistently maintained that Obi is not serious. He came into the party with nothing. He didn’t fund the election, he didn’t fund the party, and he didn’t do anything for the party. He only came to mess up the entire process and to deceive Nigerians that he has something to offer to them.
“Labour Party is thereby calling on him to step down his selfish ambition and stop messing up the party if he has nothing serious to present to the tribunal.”