A momentary confusion ensued in court when an unaffiliated Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) declared his appearance on behalf of the Labour Party’s legal team on Friday, 19th May.
The court panel, refusing to acknowledge him, criticized the senior advocate, who failed to disclose his identity, for attempting to create confusion, stating that he should have known better. The advocate offered the excuse that he had been assigned the brief.
Meanwhile, before the incident occurred, the presidential candidate of the LP, Peter Obi, appeared in court representing himself and the Labour Party.
It is worth noting that factions within the Labour Party clashed in court on Wednesday due to the attendance of the Lamidi-Apapa-led group during the proceedings.
As reported by Expressive Info, the Presidential Election Petition Court witnessed a heated dispute concerning the national leadership of the Labour Party.
Recall that Julius Abure was suspended as the National Chairman of the LP by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The court issued an injunction against him and four others, prohibiting them from presenting themselves as national officials of the party due to the alleged forgery of documents, including court documents.
In response, Lamidi Apapa assumed the role of acting chairman, but the party has been embroiled in a crisis ever since.
Prior to the court session on Wednesday, where the pre-hearing of the petition filed by the LP and its presidential candidate against President-elect Bola Tinubu was set to resume, the party’s different factions engaged in a verbal dispute over which faction was the legitimate one.
The Apapa-led faction of the LP questioned the presence of party members loyal to Abure in court, emphasizing that the ruling of the High Court of the FCT, which suspended the Abure-led faction, still stood. A few moments later, when the case was called, the PEP court refused to acknowledge any of the factions or their representatives, except for the 1st Petitioner, Obi, who was present in court.
