APC already preparing for presidential election re-run – LP
By Emma Ogbuehi
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has urged members of the party to be alert, following information available to him that the All Progressives Congress, APC, was already preparing for a possible re-run of the 2023 presidential election.
This, he explained, was because the ruling party was aware the tide was heavily tilted against it in the ongoing legal challenge to the presidential election results as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
According to a statement by the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, Abure made the declaration during an online meeting held with Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy, led by Professor Eddie Oparaoji, the Labour Party Diaspora Chairman in the United States, in Abuja on Monday.
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Abure was quoted as calling on the 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 materialize.”
He added that much as the LP is hoping for the declaration of its flag bearer, Peter Obi as the actual winner of the February 25 presidential election, the party should not be taken unawares in the event of a rerun.
Abure said: “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 doesn’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 for the downtrodden people of Nigeria.”
In his contribution to the discussion, the Director of ObiDatti Presidential Campaign, Ambassador Oseloka Obaze, urged Obi-Datti members in 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 said: “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.”
Also, 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.
