Factional National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), Abayomi Arabambi, has pushed back against suggestions that the party’s multiple factions are proof of instability, insisting that the roots of the crisis lie in ethnic-based maneuvers orchestrated by party leaders themselves.
Speaking in an interview with Channels TV from 17:52, he argued instead that the confusion began when Peter Obi, Julius Abure, and Abia State Governor Alex Otti allegedly planned to manipulate the party’s leadership structure to favor an Anambra candidate.
“When we removed Abure via the court, these were the same set of people with Joe Ajaero that went to Peter Obi and they went to court with Alex Ejesieme SAN. They fought suits to make sure Apapa did not ascend that throne. Do you know why? It was because of ethnicity! Later, Abure and Peter Obi and Governor Alex Otti, they planned that convention, but let me tell you how Abure played them out. The convention produced Ojukwu as deputy national chairman. Then they asked Abure to resign so that Ojukwu from Anambra can now become the national chairman,” Arabambi explained.
He said the alleged plan was resisted because it was built on ethnic favoritism rather than fairness. “That was why all of us came together and said no, it’s not going to happen, because a lot of things that you people don’t know that are happening in the party—all of them, they were all part and parcel of all these shenanigans,” he said.
Arabambi maintained that Abure only pulled back when asked to step aside, a move that exposed the double standards in the arrangement. “It was when they now asked Abure and he refused to step aside and said no, I’m not going to step aside, is it now that Obi will come to Nigeria and tell them that I am from the south, the chairman cannot come from the south?” he queried.
