Tells members to be ready to humiliate ruling party again
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Labour Party has claimed that intelligence report at its disposal shows that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is already warming up for a re-run presidential poll because of the weighty evidence against it before the presidential election petition court.
National Chairman of the party, Mr Julius Abure, who made the claims in Abuja on Monday during an on-line meeting held with Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy, led by Professor Eddie Oparaoji, the Labour Party Diaspora Chairman in the United States, urged LP faithful and all progressives in Nigeria to be vigilant.
According to a statement by the Acting National Publicity Secretary Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh, Abure was quoted as calling on the over 10 million members of the party to be “on the alert and get ready to further humiliate APC and its government in the polls if their sinister plot fails to materialise.”
Abure insisted that the presidential election result as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was not a true reflection of the will of the Nigeria voters who he said were robbed of their mandate.
The LP National Chairman said that evidence gathered across the country and already adduced before the tribunal was so compelling that APC had become apprehensive.
Abure urged LP members not to be caught off guard in the eventuality that the tribunal did not restore Peter Obi’s stolen mandate which was the party’s main prayer before the court.
The LP National Chairman expressed optimism that the tribunal would grant the party’s prayers based on the compelling evidence before it.
“Rumours have it that those in government are already planning for rerun and this is one of the support we will be canvasing from you.
“We should also be getting prepared because since all those in government are already preparing for rerun, we should not be taken unawares.
“So, we will be needing your engagement and support on this aspect if par adventure it happens today, that the election is nullified which is not what we are asking for because we are asking for an outright declaration of Peter Obi as the President of Nigeria.
“We believe strongly that we won that election given the statistics we have, given the result we have, we are not expecting anything less than the declaration of Peter Obi as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But supposing that didn’t happen as the government is believed to be planning for a rerun it will not also be out of place for we to be preparing for a rerun election.
“Having said this by the side, I must say clearly that we have put all our evidence before the court we are very hopeful that the tribunal will act on our favour.
“We are very hopeful that supposing the matter gets to the higher court, the Supreme Court, in this case, it will also act in our favour. We are keeping our hope and confidence alive.
“In nine months we are able to change the political narratives of this country and we must build on that successes and so that we can have a more formidable party that we can strategically position fro the downtrodden people of Nigeria.”
Contributing to the discussion, the Director of Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign, Ambassador Oseloka Obaze, urged Obi-Datti members in the diaspora to see the struggle for recovering of the party’s mandate as a collective responsibility and one that no one could actually abandoned for any other reason
He expressed faith in the diaspora capital to rescue Nigeria from the hands of undemocratic forces.
“Great countries of the world are built by the citizens of the country and I think we have in the diaspora enormous human capital. What we need to do is to be able to harvest them bring them home and make Nigeria to be a great place.
“The process is on going, the campaign to change this nation is not just an event, it is a process, a long drawn process. How long it is going to last, we don’t know, but I think what we serve as the most and best is to remain focused on our various sectors; you that are in diaspora do what you can do to support us, we that are in the trenches, we will continue to keep the ground.”
In his contribution, the chairman of the Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy, Professor Oparaoji, in his speech, titled ‘’Fostering a purposeful diaspora partnership for a new Nigeria,’’ said the group in partnership with all Obidients in diaspora had the potential to contribute significantly to Nigerian’s development.”
“Through advocacy, human rights promotion, capacity building, investment, education and healthcare support, diaspora engagement, and policy advocacy, we can play a crucial role in fostering Democratic governance, justice, and socio-economic progress in Nigeria.
“With our diverse network and resources, our diaspora community can be a catalyst for positive change and contribute to Nigeria’s long term development goal of powering up that new Nigeria of our dream,’’ he said.
As all parties have closed their defense at the tribunal during the last hearing, date for judgment is expected after the parties would have adopted their written submissions in the next adjourned date that is yet to be communicated by the court.
