There was some confusion in the courtroom when a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who is not on the Labour Party’s legal team declared that the party will be appearing on Friday.
The Justices’ panel denied him recognition and criticised the senior attorney for trying to cause confusion by not mentioning his name, saying that “He should know better” in response to his justification that “He was given a brief to appear.”
Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, announced an appearance for both himself and the party while the case was being called and before the drama.
Recall that on Wednesday, after the Lamidi-Apapa-led delegation appeared in court, there was fighting amongst various factions of the Labour party.
It was earlier reported that confusion broke out at the Presidential Election Petition Court following the hotly contested national leadership of the Labour Party.
Recall that Julius Abure’s position as National Chairman of the LP was suspended by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
He and four other people were suspended by the court from parading themselves as national party officers due to the suspected falsification of documents, including court records.
After that, Lamidi Apapa assumed the role of acting chairman, but the party has since been in turmoil.
The various factions of the party engaged in a verbal battle over which faction was the genuine one just before the court met on Wednesday for the resumed proceedings in the pre-hearing of the petition filed by the LP and its presidential candidate against the president-elect, Bola Tinubu.
The LP group led by Apapa questioned why Abure-supporting party members were present in court.
They claimed that the Abure-led faction’s suspension following a High Court of the FCT decision is still in effect.
When the case was summoned a short while later, the PEP court refused to recognise any of the factions or their representation, with the exception of the first petitioner, Obi, who was there.
