APC files petition with NBA over Abure, Kenneth Okonkwo’s statements, LP kicks

The ruling All Progressives Congress has written the Nigerian Bar Association’s disciplinary committee to report what it called “deprecating remarks” made by Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the Labour Party, and Kenneth Okonkwo, a spokesman for the party campaign council, against the justices of the Supreme Court.

In the appeal, which was signed by Senator Ajibola Basiru, the National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, the ruling party revealed that it believed Abure and Okonkwo had violated their professional obligations as attorneys by making inflammatory remarks against the justices and the judiciary.

while participants in Nigeria’s democracy, they cannot stand by and watch while the judiciary is tarnished by individuals who should know better, according to Ajibola, who made this statement in an exclusive phone conversation.

“It’s true that the APC is petitioning the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee against Abure and Kenneth of Okonkwo,” he stated. The two make disparaging remarks about the judiciary and Supreme Court justices, which we view as a violation of their professional obligations as attorneys.Rather than their party launching into needless, stereotypical tirades, they ought to defend themselves appropriately.

The Labour Party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, responded in a statement on Sunday night, highlighting that the petition validated Abure’s previous caution that President Bola Tinubu and the APC intend to pursue their leaders, including Peter Obi, who is running for president.

Ifoh said that the two had begun the alleged persecution when they reported them to the NBA’s Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee.
He said, “Nigerians will remember from our press conference on Thursday that we informed the country that, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the presidential election, some important Labour Party figures had been singled out for defamation and persecution through the use of security services and other organizations.

The party sees this move by the APC, which comes less than three days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, as validation of our information and suspicions regarding a nationwide and international campaign of intimidation, harassment, persecution, and incarceration directed against the Labour Party and the vast majority of its supporters. We, firmly and unafraid to disagree, believe every court decision is open to challenge and administrative review, particularly when it comes to political cases. The people are the source of all power and authority in Nigeria, including the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Constitution. Because of this, public opinion and oversight govern all forms of authority in Nigeria.

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“We firmly assert that all of those remarks were given in the course of public and journalistic interviews pertaining to their political positions and obligations; they were not uttered in the course of their personal or professional roles as attorneys. Delivered in their respective roles as the National Chairman of the Labour Party and the Spokesman for the Obi Datti Presidential Council, these were strictly political remarks. Presumably, the APC leadership lacks the necessary understanding that remarks made after a ruling is rendered are no longer under consideration.

“A number of other Nigerians, including eminent jurists and a retiring Supreme Court justice, have also openly shared their thoughts on the process and conclusion of the Court’s ruling. As a result, our concerns of persecution have started to come true because the APC has singled out our leaders for demonization through inflated and incorrect conclusions.

The spokesman continued, threatening to destroy a democracy that was already severely damaged and in the process of healing from the extraordinary series of events that followed the election season, if the administration is successful in its purportedly dictatorial mission to persecute and demonize opposition political parties and their supporters.

“We urge all Nigerian democratic parties and well-meaning individuals to confront this repugnant and regrettable trend and collaborate in preserving the country’s human rights as enshrined in the Constitution and other international agreements, before they are completely undermined.

In closing, he said, “We implore the NBA to resist being drawn into the APC’s nefarious political practices, which have blatantly compromised important institutions.”