Mr Lamidi Apapa, the Labour Party’s factional National Chairman, has denied accepting N500 million from any source in order to bury the party’s case before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).
Apapa has also asked the party’s presidential candidate in the Feb. 25 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, to interfere objectively in the party’s leadership fight in order to resolve it.
Apapa denied getting any money or being encouraged by anyone or group to work against the party in a press conference after escaping being lynched by furious youths at the PEPC on Wednesday in Abuja.
He stated that in order to resolve the leadership squabble, Obi must be impartial and objective in managing the problem.
Apapa lamented what happened at the PEPC in the presence of Obi, describing it as disgraceful and a test to Obi’s leadership quality.
The factional chairman said that the leadership crisis would have been put behind them if the presidential candidate had respected an order of the FCT High Court.
The FCT High court had ordered Julius Abure and three others to stop parading themselves as national officers of the party.
Tracing the genesis of the crisis, 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 Obi to be according respect to Abure in spite of the order of the court and as a presidential candidate seeking justice from the same court of law.
He implored Obi to be open minded and neutral in order to end the crisis.
In attendance at the briefing were the Deputy National Chairman of the Party in the North, Mr Mike Auta, the National Publicity Secretary, Olufemi Arabambi and the Acting Women Leader, Rukkayat Salihu
