Alhaji Lamidi Apapa, the authentic Chairman of the Labour Party according to a court ruling, was lucky to escape the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) with his life on Tuesday. Displeased with his attempt to reclaim the party structure from the Obi-led invaders who merely joined the party as a lifeline after failing to secure the PDP ticket, Obi’s supporters, with likely endorsement of the candidate himself, appear prepared to snuff life out of the aged man.
One of them, Mr Jack Obinyan, has publicly called for support in his mission to assassinate Alhaji Lamidi Apapa using poison.
Obinyan’s declaration of intent came after a revelation that the supporters of Obi who stormed the court on Tuesday with the sole mission of attacking the chairman were summoned by the candidate from neighbouring states, including Nasarawa.
Although some may put down the bitter antagonism and violent measures to a naked struggle for power, indications are rife that it may have a darker undertone. Alhaji Lamidi Apapa is of two identities Obi deeply resents: Yoruba and Muslim.
Throughout his political career, the former Anambra governor barely concealed his Christian fundamentalism; or more precisely, his belief that only Catholics should be allowed to preside over the rest of society. Even his present-day supporters of the Igbo extraction admitted in the past that his two-term tenure as the governor of Anambra state heightened tensions between Anglicans and Catholics in the state, with Obi declaring to Catholics that the state was theirs to govern till the end of days.
This is one of the RICH legacies of Mr. Peter Obi @PeterObi.
No matter how you paint him,He is a CATHOLIC bigot that HATES ANGLICANS. pic.twitter.com/ivFZrkVzGU— ???? ℙ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???? ????????????ñ???? ???? (@StFreakingKezy) November 29, 2022
As for the Yorubas, Peter Obi is said to be irritated by what he considers the “excessive pride and larger-than-life” attitude of members of the ethnic group, particularly their control of Lagos, an important commercial city-state that serves at the economic nerve centre of the country.
He let this sentiment slip in an interview during the campaign when he spewed hateful rhetoric that the Yorubas were wary of his emergence as president due to fears that he may finally unshackle the Igbos and end their economic reliance on Lagos by providing closer port access to the east among other developments. Obi never provided proof of the assertion which he claimed to have encountered on Whatsapp. Many wondered why the presidential candidate of a party chose to uncritically amplify unverified and divisive propaganda he saw on the internet if it wasn’t a view he personally shares.
Further, Obi’s close associates, including a prominent Canada-based supporter called Kennena Eloka, have at different points expressed bigotry against the Yorubas. In the case of Kennena, he described them as being from a “lineage of traitors and cowards”. When pressed about the comment, he threatened an ethnic war, similar to how Obi confessed his basic view of the presidential contest as a ‘religious war’ in the leaked conversation with famous cleric, Bishop David Oyedepo.
By combining both identities, Yoruba and Muslim, Alhaji Lamidi Apapa is said to have incurred the wrath of Obi who is reported to have authorized a ‘destruction by any means possible’ tactic against the party official. Inside sources claim that the assault on him in court on Tuesday was only the beginning of the scorched earth measures Obi’s side of the party has devised to deploy against him.
Perhaps Obi’s religious war remains alive and active, and Alhaji Lamidi Apapa is its latest victim.