Nobody sponsoring me to cause crisis in LP, Obidients are on my side —Acting LP Chair, Lamidi Apapa

Lamidi Apapa, deputy national chairman (south) of the Labour
Party (LP), says he remains the acting national chairman of the party.

On April 6, Apapa declared that he had taken charge of the
affairs of the party.

The declaration came a few hours after Julius Abure,
national chairman of the LP, alleged that thugs aided by police officers
invaded the party’s headquarters in the federal capital territory (FCT) and
caused damage to the property.

Abure claimed that the invasion was sponsored by the All
Progressives Congress (APC) to destabilise the party and its challenge of the
presidential election won by Bola Tinubu.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday,
Apapa said he has been a member of the party since 2002, and as such, he cannot
work against the LP.

Apapa said he is not being sponsored to cause a crisis in
the party.

“That is not true. Nobody is sponsoring me,” he said.

 “I was the chairman
of the party in Oyo, and gubernatorial candidate of the party in 2007.

“I have been praying that one day; this Labour Party will
lead Nigeria. And if it has come to this level, how will a reasonable say I was
there to work for somebody?”

When asked if he has the support of the ‘Obidients’ —
supporters of LP presidential candidate Peter Obi — he said: “I think so, they
are on my side.”

The LP chieftain said his actions are in order since a court
had asked Abure to step down as the chairman of the party.

A federal capital territory (FCT) high court had on April 5
issued an order restraining Abure from parading himself as the national
chairman of the LP.

“Now, if that has happened, what else? The next person
should take over,” Apapa said.

“In the party today, as far as the national working
committee is concerned, I’m the oldest and I maintain that, I use my
experience, I use my knowledge, I use my age to advise them, that is what I do.

“I am not arguing with Abure’s leadership. My argument with
him is that if it has to do with Labour Party constitution, he may be right.

 “But when it has to
do with the laws of the land, Labour Party constitution does not allow anybody
to run foul of the Nigerian constitution and at the moment when the court has
ruled that don’t parade yourself any longer as the national chairman of that
party, right from that moment he ceases to be the chairman of the party.

“By virtue of that law, he is bound to step aside because
the law has said don’t do it.”