The Labour Party, under the leadership of Comrade Julius Abure, has denounced a letter purportedly sent by its rival factional leader, Lamidi Apapa, to the Independent National Electoral Commission, claiming to nominate gubernatorial candidates.
The party has called on Nigerians to disregard attempts by dissident factions to sow confusion in the political landscape.
In a statement released in Abuja on Sunday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, clarified that the letter circulating was not authorized by the party’s leadership. Ifoh emphasized that the mentioned individuals, Anderson Uwadiae Asemote and Monday Ojore Mawa, were not recognized as gubernatorial candidates by the Labour Party.
Ifoh highlighted the need for INEC to verify the authenticity of correspondences before acknowledging them, underscoring that the Labour Party’s primaries, which saw the election of Barrister Olumide Akpata as its candidate, were transparently conducted and observed by INEC officials.
The statement pointed out the discrepancy between the televised and publicly known Labour Party primaries and the purported primary election mentioned in Apapa’s letter.
“As it is a custom, if you write any letter to INEC, the commission is expected to receive it after due verification.
“Though acknowledgement of a correspondent does not imply recognition or acceptance of its content, but we however insist that INEC must henceforth verify signatories of any future correspondences as it concerns Labour Party before acknowledgement.
“Nigerians will recall that on the 22nd of February, two other political parties; namely APC and PDP had their parties primaries and that on the following day, Labour Party also had its primaries where it elected Barrister Olumide Akpata as its candidate.
“These events were televised live on notable television stations. INEC officials led by the state electoral commissioner also observed the very successful primaries.
“How on earth could a group of persons conduct a primary election that was not known or heard by the public and was not covered by the media, and went ahead to ask the INEC to act on their correspondence.
“INEC knows that there was no primary; it did not supervise any other primary but the one conducted by the Party led by Barrister Julius Abure,” the statement read.
