Politics
IPAC Congratulates Tinubu, Tells Obi, Atiku To Respect Democracy
The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Lagos has congratulated Bola Tinubu on his victory in the February 25 presidential election.
INEC declared Mr Tinubu as the president-elect on Wednesday.
IPAC chairman, Olusegun Mobolaji, urged aggrieved presidential candidates Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and others not satisfied with the election outcome to follow the lawful path.
According to him, all Nigerians must respect democracy and the country.
“We want to congratulate Bola Tinubu of APC for his emergence as the winner of the just-concluded presidential election in Nigeria. It is a game and contest; a winner must emerge as declared by INEC. We have to respect our democracy, we have to respect the rule of law, and we have to respect our system,” stated the IPAC chair.
Mr Mobolaji added, “We implore anyone that has anything to contend on the results to toe the right path. They should remember this is our country and the way we handle it is how we are going to meet it. We should follow the right path if anyone has anything to challenge, either directly through the INEC or the party. Let us approach the court of law as stipulated by the constitution and the Electoral Act.’’
The IPAC chairman expressed the belief that INEC, as promised, would do justice to whatever complaints anyone might have.
He urged the electoral umpire to address all complaints and grievances accordingly.
“This election has come and it has been done. Though, there are a lot of challenges and complaints here and there, especially concerning the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) and the transmission of results,” Mr Mobolaji explained.
He added, “People really complained that they could not trust the results because they were not electronically transmitted through the BVAS, but INEC has to conclude the process it started.”
Politics
LP Crisis: Ex-NWC Member Dumps Dumps Abure Faction
Mr Ojukwu, who recently returned to the interim National Working Committee led by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, noted that the party had 34 elected members in the House of Representatives, eight Senators, and 80 members at the state Houses of Assembly after the 2023 general elections.
“Now we lost all of them,” he said. “I don’t think we have as many as five members in the National Assembly.”
The former national officer of the LP talked to journalists in Abuja and said he chose to join the caretaker committee led by Senator Nenadi-Usman because they are now the officially recognized leaders of the Party.
“I chose to work with the caretaker committee to help save the Labour Party, for the benefit of the party. I also want to use this chance to ask my colleagues at the national, state, and local government levels to come together and help rebuild our party.
“Another election is around the corner. We lost everything we have. They have left to other political parties. So I’ll reach out to all my friends in the other group to get together and work on making this party stronger again.
“The caretaker committee has formed a reconciliation committee. Let’s come together and talk so that we can restore the first opposition political party in Nigeria.”
Mr Ojukwu, who was part of the Julius Abure’s group, said there are no more factions in the LP.
He added, “There is a court ruling, and since it is valid, the right people are in the correct positions.”
He urged Barr Abure and others to drop the legal cases they have filed because they are not helping the party.
“Litigations are killing political parties”, he said. “They’ve seen many political parties disappear because of legal battles, and the Labor Party is losing support every day, which makes me feel sad.”
Mr Ojukwu said he did not think joining the Senator Nenadi-Usman’s NWC was a betrayal of the Abure group, describing himself as “the oxygen” of that faction.
“I’m with this group because of the verdict. But I never betrayed anybody. Rather, I was betrayed,” he added.
