By Halimah Olamide
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, on Monday said the All Progressive Congress is already working towards a rerun election as the party is aware that the tribunal’s verdict will not favour it.
Abure stated this while holding an online meeting with some members of the party in the Diaspora.
Saying that those in government already are planning ahead because of what he called the impending judgment against them, he said members of the Labour Party should not be caught aware.
“Be alert,” he told them saying the party won the election.
The meeting was with Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy led by Professor Eddie Oparaoji.
Oparaoji is also 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.”
Demanding for the group’s support in case of any rerun, he said members should be ready to give that support.
Abure said what the party is asking for is a declaration of its candidate Mr. Peter Obi, as the winner of the election.
He said, “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 didn’t happened as the government is believed to be planning for a rerun it will not also be out of place for we to be preparing for a rerun election.
“Having said this by the side, I must say clearly that we have put all our evidences before the court we are very hopeful that the tribunal will act on 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.
“In 9 months we are able to change the political narratives of this country and we must build on that successes and so that we can have a more formidable party that we can strategically positioned fro the down trodden people of Nigeria.”
Also speaking, the Director of ObiDatti Presidential Campaign, Ambassador Oseloka Obaze called on ObiDatti members in diaspora to see the struggle for recovering of the party’s mandate as a collective responsibility.
“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.