By Suoyo Ekubo
There was a chaotic scene that played out at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday when officials of the two factions of Labour Party (LP) clashed.
The Daily Post reports that the court presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani refused to recognise any representative of the Labour Party except the 1st petitioner, Peter Obi, who was in court.
Justice Haruna reached the decision having been possibly intimated that there was a disagreement between two factions of the party before the court resumed proceedings.
When the matter was called, Obi stood up to announce his appearance followed by Dudu Manuga, the National Women’s Leader of the Party who sat close to Obi.
It all began when Lamidi Apapa, factional chairman of the party, walked into the court premises alongside some of his supporters.
Apapa, who is locked in a battle with Julius Abure, suspended chairman of the party, had arrived the court for the case of a petition which Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of the party, filed against the victory of President-elect Bola Tinubu.
He made attempted to sit where Labour Party officials were and a shouting match ensued.
As the argument continued, Apapa raised his voice, saying, “Get up, you cannot sit down here!”
Secretary of the Presidential election court, Josephine Ekperobe, quickly moved in to ensue normalcy.
Later when the Labour Party matter was called, Obi and the party’s Women Leader, Dudu Manoga, introduced themselves on the record of the court.
But when Apapa stood up to introduce himself as the National Chairman, the presiding justice of the court, Justice Haruna Tsammani, requested him to stop the introduction as the court would not recognise the ‘National Chairman’ on record.
Abure, who sat next to Obi, did not, however, attempt to introduce himself.
