The Labour Party (LP) factional chairman, Lamidi Apapa, says he will honour an invitation by the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, provided the executive of the party agree.
This is coming amid allegations by the rival party leadership that Apapa was being sponsored by Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) to destabilise LP. He was also accused of collecting a N500 million bribe from Tinubu, but had refuted the allegation.
Apapa has been at daggers drawn with the LP’s suspended chairman, Julius Abure, over the leadership of the party.
Responding to questions on whether he would honour Tinubu’s invitation for reconciliation on Arise TV on Thursday, Apapa said he would do so if approved by the party.
Apapa denies receiving N500m to destabilise Labour Party
He said, “Before I honour him, I will consult the executive of the party, so if they ask me to go ahead, I will do. If the executive says go ahead it becomes our position.
“It’s not going to be my position. If they say go and see him or we are going to see him, it becomes the position of the party not the position of Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa.
“All of us will collectively go and see him. That is if we have the mandate of the house that we are going to see him.”
The leadership tussle in the party came to a head on Wednesday when the factions loyal to Apapa and Julius Abure locked up in a shouting match at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja where Tinubu’s victory in the February 25 presidential election is being challenged.
After the court session, a crowd shouted ‘Ole,’ a Yoruba word for thief, at Apapa, as he made his way out of the court.
The politician, who was being shielded by policemen, struggled to get to where his car was parked, but the crowd kept trailing him, recording the incident with their phone. The incident became more dramatic when someone in the crowd removed Apapa’s cap and fled.
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