Lamidi Apapa denies being bribed with $1m to truncate the Labour Party's election petition

EMBATTLED chairman of one of the factions of Nigeria's Labour Party Lamidi Apapa has denied receiving a sum of N500m ($1m) as a bribe in order to scuttle the party's ongoing case before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in Abuja.

On Saturday February 25, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a new president and Inec subsequently declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner. Among the main gladiators in the contest were Asiwaju Tinubu of APC, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ex-Anambra State Governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party and former Kano State governor Senator Kwankwaso of the NNPP.

However, the PDP and Labour Party have refused to accept the results, with both of them challenging the polls in court. Yesterday, the matter was due to be heard by the PEPC in Abuja but the Labour Party's internal crisis get in the way of things, forcing the judge to adjourn the hearing as there are currently two factions laying claims to the leadership of the Labour Party.

One faction is led by Mr Apapa and another led by Julius Abure. Mr Apapa won the most recent legal battle, so is the officially recognised party chairman but Mr Abure's supporters have refused to accept this.

To make matters worse, Mr Abure is keen on continuing with legal action, while Mr Apapa has accepted the APC victory and wants to end all legal action challenging the results. Yesterday, the matter came to a head in court with Mr Apapa physically attacked by members of the Abure faction and it took the intervention of the police to prevent him from being lynched.

Mr Apapa has been derided as an as APC stooge and pawn by the Abure faction but he has denied receiving any money or being influenced by anybody or group to work against the party. He has also asked Governor Obi to intervene in the leadership tussle of the party objectively with a view to resolving it.

Speaking earlier today, Mr Apapa  said Governor Obi must be unbiased and objective in handling the crisis in order to resolve the leadership tussle. He decried what happened at the PEPC in the presence of Governor Obi describing it as disgraceful and a test if his leadership qualities.

According to Mr Apapa, the leadership crisis would have been put behind them if the presidential candidate had respected an order of the Federal Capital Territory high court. That court had ordered that Julius Abure and three others desist from parading themselves as national officers of the party, following their indictment for forgery and perjury.

Tracing the genesis of the crisis, Mr Apapa said that immediately the order of court was served on the parties, he was unanimously selected to lead the party in acting capacity. He said that it was wrong for Governor Obi to be according respect to Mr Abure in spite of the order of the court and as a presidential candidate seeking justice from the same court of law.

In attendance at the briefing were the deputy national chairman of the party in the north Mike Auta, the national publicity secretary Olufemi Arabambi and the acting women's leader Rukkayat Salihu. Mr Auta denied that the APC was behind the current Labour Party crisis adding that the allegation was baseless and unfounded.

He also said that the Apapa-led faction had no intention of withdrawing the petition at the PEPC. Mr Auta apologised to Nigerians who he said gave the party over 6m votes during the presidential election, saying they should not be discouraged by the current leadership crisis as it would soon be over.