On Friday, a faction of the Labour Party known as the Lamidi Apapa faction instructed the party’s candidate for president, Peter Obi, to withdraw his petition before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal due to what they referred to as a “lack of seriousness” on his part.
According to the faction, the advice was required after the incident that took place at the Tribunal on Thursday, when the court halted hearings in the petition that Obi and the LP had filed against the election of President Bola Tinubu. The petition challenged the legitimacy of Tinubu’s election as president.
When the LP faction was speaking on the removal of fuel subsidies, they criticised the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria for opposing the new pump price of petrol.
They insisted that the position that the LP took during the campaign regarding the removal of fuel subsidies has not changed, and they said that “we cannot reverse that position because it was not our candidate that won the presidential election.”
These concerns were voiced during a press conference held in Abuja by Abayomi Arabambi, who serves as the factional National Publicity Secretary for the LP.
Since the beginning of the PEPT hearings, he said in his comments to the media that Obi has been unable to produce any hard evidence to support these claims.
Arabambi claimed that Obi went to court to challenge Tinubu’s victory because he and his co-travelers had different motives, which went against the wishes of the Nigerian masses, who had freely offered their support to LP. Arabambi’s claim was that Obi went to court to challenge Tinubu’s victory because he and his co-travelers had different motives.
He stated, “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 position he currently holds.”
“Every one of you here who has been following this case can remember that on the day that we had an altercation in court with (Julius) Abure’s group, that INEC announced that Peter Obi could not pay for CTC form EC08 and other documents,” the speaker continued. “All of you here who have been following this case can recall that.” Because of this, they were required to only present thirty percent of the materials that would be necessary for the hearing at the Election Petition Tribunal.
“How could any person with a clear head go before an election tribunal with only 30 percent of the documents, knowing that none of those documents would be accepted or agreed to be tendered by any of the other political parties?”
They reported that two of their counsels were ill three days ago, and as of yesterday (Thursday), they were unable to even file a single process with the variety of SANs that are associated with Obi. This is exactly what we have been saying all along, that they are just trying to pull a fast one on the public, fooling the Obidients, and giving them a false sense of hope that they have something going for them in the courtroom.
“It is evident from the attitude displayed by them when they wrote a letter to INEC that Obi could not pay N1.5 million. This is evident from the fact that they wrote the letter. Who are they trying to trick here? Were the Counsel Ailing?
Because of this, we have always maintained that Obi is not serious about anything. He did not bring anything with him to the party. He did not contribute financially to the election, the party, or anything else that was associated with the party. He only came to make a mess of the entire process and to convince Nigerians that he has something to offer them when in reality he has nothing to offer them.
“The Labour Party is therefore calling on him to step down his self-centered ambition and stop messing up the party if he does not have anything significant to present to the tribunal,”
Fuel subsidy
Arabambi stated, “Whatever we have agreed on during our campaign, and as a party that promotes peace, equity, and justice in Nigeria, then we can’t be found approbating and reprobating at the same time.” Our position is that once Obi has said he would remove fuel subsidy from his first day in office, the same organised labour who stood on that position must not be seen working in cross purpose on the same thing that Tinubu, Atiku, and even Obi said they were going to do. This is because it would be seen as working against what Obi has said he is going to do.
“Obama stated that subsidies are a form of organised crime that must be eradicated. There will be no strike called by the NLC. If they do, then it is obvious that they are just being mischievous for a reason that is best known to them, or perhaps they have something against the President that they should come clean about and tell Nigerians about. As a representative of the Labour Party, this is our stance.