Anthony IwuomaThe
Labour Party, LP, has described as mischievous misinformation the news being spread around by loyalists of Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the party that a court in Bayelsa State had disqualified Sen. Athan Achonu, its governorship candidate in the Imo State election in November.
The Julius Abure-led party said the purported judgment was a fraud and never had anything to do with Achonu, who was neither joined in the suit and was never part of the judicial process.
Recall that Ikechukwu Akujobi, the factional Imo State chairman of LP, a loyalist of Lamidi
Apapa, had told newsmen in Owerri, the state capital,
that the party’s legal team had commenced action to get the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to recognise Joseph Ikechukwu Ukaegbu, as the authentic Imo LP governorship candidate, in line with the ruling of the Federal High Court, Bayelsa State, which a llegedly nullified Senator Achonu’s candidature.
He said: “It is no longer news that a Federal High Court sitting in Bayelsa state had on Friday, 23rd June 2023, upheld the governorship candidacy of Joseph Ikechukwu Ukaegbu, for the Imo State off-season governorship election call conducted by Bashiru Lamidi Apapa, led NWC, of the party in the state.
“It is no longer news that the same Justice Emmanuel Akko’s court, init ruling, decided as illegal and unlawful, the governorship primaries conducted by the court suspended national chairman of the party Barr. Julius Abure, in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states.”
However, dismissing the Ukaegbu candidature as a joke, the Labour Party insisted that the Bayelsa judgment was fraudulently procured by former members of the party whose intent is to deceive the public.
A statement signed by the Acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in Abuja, read in part: “The leadership of the Labour Party read with utter dismay the judgment entered against our candidate in the November governorship election in Imo State, Distinguished Sen. Athan Achonu.
“We can confirm that the judgment was fraudulently procured by our former but now suspended members led by Lamidi Apapa, and we have directed our legal team to appeal the judgment with immediate effect.
“The judgment in Bayelsa is akin to what transpired in Kano State recently where they procured a judgment against our party and against our Abia State then governor-elect. They have not relented on their evil mission hence this judgment in Bayelsa State, even against the territorial jurisdiction as required by the law of the land, the mainstream LP leadership stated.”
He stated unequivocslly that Achonu remains the Labour candidate in the fast-approaching poll.