Labour Party begins mobilization for rerun, says APC govt knows it’s inevitable

By Christiana Ekpa

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure said that he has been informed of the plans by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government to work ahead of a possible rerun, knowing that the tide of the wind is heavily tilted against it.
A statement signed by the acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, said the LP National Chairman also called on the over 10 million members of the party to be on the alert and get ready to further humiliate APC and its government in the polls if their sinister plot materializes.
It said Abure stated this on Monday during an online meeting held with Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy led by Professor Eddie Oparaoji, who is the Labour Party Diaspora Chairman in the United States.
Abure said “Rumours have it that those in government are already planning for rerun and this is one of the support we will be canvasing from you. We should also be getting prepared because since all those in government are already preparing for rerun, we too should not be taken unawares.
“So, we will be needing your engagement and support on this aspect if par adventure it happens today, that the election is nullified, which is not what we are asking for, because we are asking for outright declaration of Peter Obi as the President of Nigeria.
“We believe strongly that we won that election, given the statistics we have, given the result we have, we are not expecting anything less than the declaration of Peter Obi as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But supposing that did not happen, as the government is believed to be planning for a rerun, it will not also be out of place for us to be preparing for a rerun election.
“Having said this by the side, I must say clearly that we have put all our evidence before the court. We are very hopeful that the tribunal will act in our favour. And we are very hopeful that supposing the matter gets to the higher court, the Supreme Court, in this case, it will also act in our favour. We are keeping our hope and confidence alive”, the statement said.
While adding that in nine months, LP was able to change the political narratives of the country, the party said it must build on that successes, so that it can have a more formidable party that it can strategically position for the downtrodden people of Nigeria.
“Also in his contribution, the Director of ObiDatti Presidential Campaign, Ambassador Oseloka Obaze called on ObiDatti members in diaspora to see the struggle for recovering of our mandate as a collective responsibility and one that no one can actually abandoned for any other reason
“Great countries of the world are built by the citizens of the country and I think we have in the diaspora enormous human capital. What we need to do is to be able to harvest them bring them home and make Nigeria to be a great place.
“The process is on going, the campaign to change this nation is not just an event, it is a process, a long drawn process. How long it is going to last, we don’t know, but I think what we serve as the most and best is to remain focused on our various sectors; you that are in diaspora do what you can do to support us, we that are in the trenches, we will continue to keep the ground.
“The chairman of the Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy, Professor Oparaoji in his speech titled ‘Fostering a purposeful diaspora partnership for a new Nigeria’ said that the group in partnership with all Obidients in diaspora has the potential to contribute significantly to Nigerian’s development .
“Through advocacy, human rights promotion, capacity building, investment, education and healthcare support, diaspora engagement, and policy advocacy, we can play a crucial role in fostering Democratic governance, justice, and socio-ecobomic progress in Nigeria. With our diverse network and resources, our diaspora community can be a catalyst for positive change and contribute to Nigeria’s long term development goal of powering up that new Nigeria of our dream”, the statement said.