There was drama at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday when officials of the two factions ofLabour Party (LP) clashed.
The court presided over by Justice Haruna Tsammani refused to recognise any representative of the Labour Party except the 1st petitioner, Peter Obi who was in court.
The director-general of Peter Obi’s presidential campaign council, Akin Osuntokun, and factional national chairperson of the Labour Party (LP), Lamidi Apapa, got into a heated argument about seats in the presidential election petition court.
At around 8:05 am, when the courtroom opened to attorneys and plaintiffs for the day’s proceedings, trouble began.
When Apapa and his associates approached Osuntokun and other party leaders in the plaintiffs’ gallery and requested that they vacate their seats, they were already seated.
Apapa argued that he belonged in the plaintiffs’ gallery since he was the legitimate leader of the Labour Party.
But Osuntokun refused to give up his seat, insisting that Apapa had no right to take the seat.
To defuse the heated situation between the two leaders, Josephine Ekperobe, secretary of the presidential election petition court, had to step in.
Dudu Manuga, the party’s national woman head, then made a public appearance announcement, but Apapa soon objected.
The five-member judicial panel, chaired by Haruna Tsammani, declined to record any arguments for the party because of the uncertainty.
The LP’s suspended national chairman, Julius Abure, was also present in court.
Meanwhile,the factional chairman of the party, Lamidi Apapa was subsequently booed and chased out of the court premises after attempting to represent the party.