Lamidi Apapa Thanks God For Saving His Life In Court

Lamidi Apapa, the factional national chairman of the Labour Party, who was attacked by a mob on Wednesday at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, the site of the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, has expressed gratitude to God for sparing his life.

As soon as security personnel released Apapa from their protective custody, he spoke to reporters and stated that he was in court to assert his position as the party’s acting national chairman and to confirm the status of the petition that the party’s candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, had filed to contest the results of the 2023 presidential election.

He told reporters that the Director-General of the Obi campaign organizations, Mr. Akin Osuntokun, refusing to leave a seat designated for the party chairman, signaled trouble before the court’s hearings even started.

“I went to him and inquired to know on what capacity he was sitting on the seat. I told him that since I am in court today, I am the right person to sit on that chair.”

On how he was mobbed, Apapa, said: “They pounced on me, removed my cap and I am very sure that if not that you people (journalists) were there, I would have been dead by now.”

He accused Obi of being away that he would be attacked, disclosing that members of the presidential campaign group of the party had at a meeting that was held on Tuesday to broker peace among the warring factions, vowed to deal with him should he attend the court session.

“They threatened that if I appear in court that something would happen”, the embattled LP factional chairman added, saying there was no truth in the allegation that he collected N500million to scuttle Obi’s petition against the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

While branding Obi “a liar” for saying that he does not know him, Apapa said he actively participated in all the campaigns the party held before the presidential election and also flew back to Abuja with him in the same aircraft on one of the occasions.

“I want to tell the whole world that he is a liar. I have been in the party for over 21 years while he is not even up to one year in the party.

“I have never taken any kobo from anybody and I have challenged anyone that has any evidence to bring it forward”.

Insisting that he has contributed more to the party than Obi, Apapa, said it was not true that he was in court to withdraw the petition against Tinubu.

“Apart from money, what else does he (Obi) have that I don’t have?,” Apapa queried.

He accused Obi of refusing to respect the court order that suspended the Julius Abure-led executives of the party.

On the issue that led to the removal of his cap by angry youths that attacked him at the court premises, he said: “As you can see, I have recovered my cap. But as for the person that removed my cap, he will suffer till the end of his life.

“I saw him. He is a young chap but he will never grow old,” he added.