Why Peter Obi may lose LP 2023 candidacy

As the 2023 election gathers momentum, the factional chairman and gubernatorial flagbearer of the Labour Party in Lagos State, Ifagbemi Awamaridi, has said that attempts by some individuals in the opposition party to take over his positions as the “bonafide chairman and governorship candidate of the party” can lead to the nullification of the presidential candidacy of Peter Obi.

It was gathered that Awamaridi maintained that he was neither sacked nor replaced through any constitutional process.

Recall that controversy had continued to trail the Labour Party’s governorship primaries, leadership and candidate in Lagos State.

Earlier this week, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was unveiled as a governorship candidate. Kayode Salako is also laying claim to the position of Chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Labour Party.

“The document with which they said they appointed Kayode Salako was disclosed through a press statement on July 23, 2022, and it was fraudulently backdated to the 18th of May 2022,” Awamaridi told Punch.

“That document can never hold water. In the first place, he (Salako) is not a member of the Labour Party; he is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“Furthermore, it means that Peter Obi is not the presidential candidate of the Labour Party.

“It means that as of the 18th of May, Kayode Salako was the Chairman of Labout Party.”