LP outraged by public secretary’s accusation

The national leadership of the Labour Party (LP) is outraged by its publicity secretary’s allegation of embezzlement against its chieftain Doyin Okupe.

Abayomi Arabambi, the party’s Ogun chapter publicity secretary, had claimed Okupe short-changed members by holding back millions in campaign funding.

But, in his statement, Umar Farouq, the LP’s national publicity secretary, accused Arabambi of attempting to sabotage the party.

In his statement, Farouq described Arabambi as a ‘Judas Iscariot’ who is driven by pecuniary gains to sell the party he ought to be defending.

“As a ranking member of our party from the South-West, Mr. Arabambi was tasked with handling the candidates from both Lagos State and his home State, Ogun for the House of Assembly and governorship. He frustrated the arrangement and made sure that no name was uploaded.

“When the party noticed that he was playing pranks, and that he was merely deceiving the party, it quickly contracted another lawyer who pursued the case and got judgment in Lagos and Ogun states . That is how Labour Party got the list of its candidates uploaded in INEC portal.

“And now for him threatening to go to court to challenge the judgment in favour of his own party, a party where he ought to be an image maker tells you clearly that he is completely compromised.

“He has been detailed to frustrate the party from getting candidates to field for elections in these areas. That he has instituted action against the Party’ victory in the Supreme Court is in his determination to ensure that Labour Party does not have candidates in Lagos and Ogun states.

“The inference that you can draw from his actions is that he is compromised because there is no other means to justify his current position,” the statement read in part.

Farouq further said that Arabambi lacked the power to expel Okupe from the party.

“We have made a strong statement that Arabambi has no constitutional powers to suspend any member of the party, not to talk of a personality, the party had worked hard to bring over to its fold.

“For his information, Dr. Okupe, a frontline politician and a former Presidential aspirant joined the party with Peter Obi along with thousands of other notable leaders and were duly granted waivers.

“Since joining the party, he has been of immense benefit not just to the party but also the campaign council, investing both financial and material resources to ensure that the will of the people, which is a pro-people government is actualized in Nigeria soonest.

“His unilateral pronouncement on the membership of our esteemed leader or any other member without authorisation by the leadership is viewed as usurpation of the authority of the leadership of the party, in this case the National Working Committee.

“Arabambi, the last time I checked is neither the National Financial Secretary or the National Legal Adviser whose duties are to advice the leadership of the party on who is financially viable or who is ineligible to be a member of the party,” the statement added.