The Labour Party’s Lamidi Apapa faction’s scheme to have Peter Obi, the party’s nominee for president in the February 25, 2023 election, withdraw the case filed with the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal will fail because the petitioner can take the case to the Supreme Court on his own if his party decides to drop it.
Afam Osigwe, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), took this position on Monday during an interview that was broadcast live in Abuja on Arise News Night Nigeria.
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In the event that the LP decides to pull the rug out from under Obi, he argues that Obi can stand alone and bring his case at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to a successful end.
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.
Osigwe explained;
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, Peter 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.
Regarding the Labour Party’s leadership issue, Osigwe expressed displeasure that the Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja was unable to consider the merits of the case rather than issuing an interim injunction to one side in the conflict to prevent Barrister Julius Abure from operating as the party’s chairman.
