The Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party extended warm congratulations to President Bola Tinubu on his recent triumph at the Supreme Court.
The LP faction commended the President’s victory while urging him to exhibit magnanimity in the wake of the judicial decision.
This announcement followed the dismissal of appeals filed by Peter Obi, the LP faction’s presidential candidate, and his counterpart Atiku Abubakar from the Peoples Democratic Party, challenging President Tinubu’s election by the Supreme Court.
The LP faction, in a somewhat ironic twist, expressed a hint of mockery towards Peter Obi, remarking that the justices took less than 120 minutes to dismiss his petition.
Abayomi Arabambi, the Spokesman for the LP faction, shared the faction’s sentiments in a statement issued from Abuja on Saturday.
Arabambi emphasized that President Tinubu’s victory was well-deserved, highlighting the legitimacy and strength of the President’s electoral triumph in the eyes of the law.
He said, “The victory has now settled all the controversies that arose from the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections. We hope that the President will be magnanimous in victory by inviting the Labour Party leadership as a partner in the progress of his all-inclusive government of national unity.
“While we in the LP appeal to the losers, especially the PDP presidential candidate, to toe the path of patriotism as a democrat, we urge the winner to be more magnanimous in victory since the government is for us all.
“The independence of the judiciary was further confirmed in the judgment when the Supreme Court said there was no evidence to prove President Tinubu’s forged certificate was presented before the court. Now that judgment has been pronounced, our immediate mission as one people must now shift to issues that affect us as a nation.”
The faction then hailed former vice president Atiku Abubakar for putting up a strong case despite his loss at the court.
He added, “The former vice president remains a veteran and not a failure. He gave it all but destiny at times speaks.
“Labour party therefore congratulates him. His name shall remain relevant in Nigeria whether his opponent likes it or not. The beauty of democracy is that election divides all democratic citizens, the democrats and the entire populace into losers and winners.”
The Apapa faction spokesman however dragged Obi, alleging that he was arguably one of the worst candidates the party had ever fielded.
He said, “It is on record that all the meaningless grounds of appeal were dismissed under 120 seconds (two minutes) by the justices of the Supreme Court. The loss of Peter Obi signified the vindication of LP’s stance under Lamidi Apapa about his stewardship as the party’s presidential candidate.
“We also congratulate the justices of the Supreme Court for taking their precious time to thoroughly lay to rest all negative aspersions with the best judgment so far in the history of Presidential Election petition. They were able to prove that Obi in the petition abandoned the duty to prove substantial non-compliance and relied solely on the failure to electronically transmit results directly from the polling unit.”
