By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
The plot by the Lamidi Apapa faction of Labour Party to withdraw the case filed by the party’s flagbearer in the February 25, 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi will not see the light of the day as the petitioner can pursue the case lodged with the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to the Supreme Court on his own should his party want to discontinue with the matter.
This is the stand of Afam Osigwe, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) while speaking on Arise News Night Nigeria monitored in Abuja on Monday.
He insists that Obi can stand alone to pursue his case at Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to the final conclusion should the LP under any guise decides to pull the rug under his feet.
Speaking specifically on the activities of the LP splinter group led by Apapa who is alleged to have been making surreptitious moves to withdraw Obi’s case at Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and other Election Tribunals across Nigeria.
According to the learned Silk, “It is too late in the day for anyone who did not file a case in the law courts or tribunals to apply to withdraw the case. Even the political party that the petitioner filed the case to the tribunal can not apply to withdraw it.
“In fact, Obi can go ahead with the case should the party decides to pull out of it but I doubt it and I don’t want to go deeper into the case since it is before the tribunal which will determine it”.
On the leadership crisis in the Labour Party, Osigwe frowned at the inability of the Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja to go into the substantive case instead of granting Interim Injunction to one group in the dispute to stop Barrister Julius Abure from acting as the Chairman of Labour Party.
