The Labour Party acting chairman, Lamidi Apapa, and the Director General of Peter Obi’s presidential campaign council, Akin Osuntokun, clashed at the Appeal Court on Wednesday.
Apapa and Osuntokun were seen in viral videos arguing over a seat at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPT) sitting in Abuja.
The Labour Party has been immersed in a leadership tussle, with Apapa getting a court ruling last week as acting chairman pending the determination of the party’s leadership lawsuit by a federal high court.
Immediately after the ruling, Apapa directed the party’s lawyers at the Election Tribunal to report to him.
Apapa issued this directive on Friday, while he also said that he is now in charge of the Labour Party because a court affirmed his position as the acting chairman on the same day.
He also directed the party’s legal representatives in the presidential election tribunal to meet with him so as to brief him within 48 hours.
“I am so pleased that justice has taken place today because, under normal circumstances, we would begin to doubt, but today, we’re happy that the judge has acted broadly and reasonably,” Apapa said.
“There’s no doubt that I am now in charge. It has now been confirmed by the court that I have the right to be in charge until another order is taken.
“As of today, I am the acting chairman of the party, and anybody who parades himself apart from myself is acting illegally.
“I want to use this opportunity once again to tell the whole world that the tribunal that is going on, I want to invite all the lawyers that are representing the Labour Party, that they should come for a briefing.
“They should come and give me an update about what is happening in that tribunal within the next 48 hours, because right now, I am the person in the driver’s seat.”
On April 5, a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court issued an order restraining Julius Abure from parading himself as the LP’s national chairman.
