The Lamidi Apapa faction of the Labour Party (LP) has announced that it will not offer its presidential ticket to Peter Obi for the 2027 election. Instead, they advised Peter Obi to seek a different political platform to pursue his presidential ambitions.
Abayomi Arabambi, the spokesperson for the faction, conveyed this message to The PUNCH on Wednesday. Arabambi suggested that Obi should not waste time pursuing an appeal against Tinubu’s Supreme Court victory, emphasizing that Obi’s alleged mismanagement of human resources had led to his defeat in the election.
Arabambi stated, “My advice is for him (Obi) to go and start preparing for 2027. But it has to be in another party, not in LP. We are not going to allow this kind of rascality to continue in 2027. We will look for a fresh candidate as far as we are concerned.”
“Obi is free to go back to APGA to run, not Labour Party. We don’t want to continue accommodating a character who believes no other person, other than himself, has anything upstairs. He is not a good manager of human resources. That was why he lost woefully.”
“Let me ask Obi, who is accusing President Bola Tinubu of certificate fraud, this question. Obi claimed he has a B.Sc. Did he present the B.Sc. in his form? Was it not the school certificate he wrote there? Why is he hiding his own B.Sc.? That is because he knew they could subpoena the vice chancellor or the registrar to come and confirm its authenticity.”
In response to the Apapa faction’s statement, the spokesperson for the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, dismissed Arabambi’s threat, stating, “They (the Apapa faction) don’t own the Labour Party. That’s why I don’t want to take issues with them. There is no need to give these people attention.”
Kehinde Edun, the LP National Legal Adviser, clarified that it is the Abure faction that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognizes. He said, “Do they have any authority over the party? They are suspended members of the party. So, how can they determine who becomes the flag bearer? These people have turned to comedians.”
“The statutory authority to monitor and keep records of activities of political parties is INEC. So, who do they plan to present the candidate to? It is the same INEC, and the electoral umpire can only accept nominations from the recognized National Executive Committee of the party.”
“As of today, the recognized leadership of the party is the one led by Abure and not Apapa or whatever they call themselves. We are not moved by anything they say. They are just comedians and mere impostors claiming to be what they are not. We know they will soon run out of steam. Nigerians no longer take them seriously because they are beginning to see through their games.”
