The Kaduna State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has suspended its senatorial candidates for the 2023 general election and another key member for aligning with the Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the party executive, which the party deemed to be illegal and counterfeit.

The sanctioned members include the 2023 deputy governorship candidate, Bashir Aliyu; senatorial candidates, Ibrahim Bamali and Michael Auta, as well as other members who attended the Bauchi meeting of the Apapa-led faction. The decision was reached during an emergency meeting of the State Executive Council (SEC) held in Kaduna on May 7, 2022.

The LP dissociated itself from what it described as “the illegal and counterfeit group of the LP led by one Lamidi Apapa.” It stated that the chairman of LP in Kaduna, Auwal Tafoki, remains in his position, and anyone parading himself in that position is impersonating and may face the wrath of the law.

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The party suspended all identified card-carrying members who attended the Bauchi meeting and will forward the decision to the National Working Committee (NWC) of LP and other relevant bodies for further action.

The party called on its members and the general public to disregard anyone or group claiming to be state officials of LP in Kaduna outside the exco led by Tafoki.

In its resolution, the party affirmed its commitment to ensuring unity to become the most formidable political platform in Kaduna State and Nigeria as a whole, to produce visionary and transformational leaders who will take the country to greater heights.

The resolution alleged that the emergence of the Lamidi Apapa-led faction was an assault on the party by agents of destabilisation and commotion.

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The public was warned that the entire drama was being sponsored by an electoral bandit, whose aim is to use a fake LP NWC to scuttle the petition Peter Obi filed before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) and to create parallel structures at the national and state levels to support the dirty agenda of scuttling the mandate of Obi and Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed in the 2023 presidential elections.

The SEC of LP in Kaduna resolved unequivocally to work with the NWC led by Julius Abure.