There was brief turmoil in court on Friday when a senior Nigerian lawyer, who is not part of the Labor defense team, announced that he would appear for the party.
The jury, which denied acknowledging him, accused the attorney, who did not name himself, of trying to confuse He apologized, saying he was ordered to appear in court.
Meanwhile, LP presidential candidate Peter Obi has announced that he will appear in court on behalf of himself and the Labor Party during his trial and ahead of the drama.
Labor factions clashed in court on Wednesday after a group led by Lamidi Apapa attended the trial.
Chaos erupted at the Presidential Petitions Court after a bitter battle for Labor’s national leadership. Recall that the federal court in Abuja suspended Julius Abure from his post as National Chairman of the LP. The court banned him and four others from pretending to be National Party officials on suspicion of falsifying documents, including court documents.
Lamidi Apapa later became acting leader, but the party has been in crisis ever since.
On Wednesday, just before a court was called to resume preliminary hearings on a petition filed by the LP and its presidential candidate against President-elect Bola Tinub, factions within the party were battling over which faction was the real deal.
The LP faction, led by Apapa, questioned why pro-Abure members were present in court.
They argued that the FCT Supreme Court’s decision to suspend the Ablé-led faction was valid.
Shortly after, when the issue was heard, the PEP court refused recognition of either faction or its representatives, wexceptObi, who was the first plaintiff to appear in court.
