TheCable

Akin Osuntokun, director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign, says Lamidi Apapa, factional chairman of the party, is obsessed with recognition.

At the presidential election petition hearing on Wednesday, Apapa confronted Osuntokun over the sitting arrangement and the situation led to an elaborate row in the courtroom.

Apapa was eventually dragged and pushed out of the court. At some point, someone in the crowd removed his cap and fled.

Speaking about the incident in an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, Osuntokun said the conduct of Apapa has anti-party tendencies, adding that he may have been sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“The man is obsessed with recognition. When I was sitting, he led his gang of people to tell me he wants to sit where I was sitting,” he said.

“What is their interest in this? They have nuisance value and unfortunately, they were obliged by one of the judges. 

“You can extrapolate from the conduct that they are sponsored. What they say is not in the interest of the party. If they support Peter Obi and his presidential ambition, why should they be creating problems for that sort of person?

“This storm may be coming from APC because they have a vested interest in the weak Labour Party. A man of his age deliberately wants to create a nuisance everywhere he goes.”

In April, Apapa, who was the deputy national chairman of the LP (south), said he had taken charge of the affairs of the party.

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

However, Abure blamed the alleged thug invasion on the All Progressives Congress (APC).