Obidients Betrayed Democracy, Not the Courts!’ – Arabambi Fires at Labour Party’s 2023 Allegations

Factional Labour Party (LP) National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi, has made startling allegations regarding the party’s performance in the 2023 presidential election, claiming that several Obidients who served as LP polling agents absconded with election results.

Arabambi stated that these agents disappeared with results from their respective polling units after the party failed to pay them the promised ₦10,000 stipend for their services. As a result, he said the party could not account for results from about 54,000 out of the 189,000 polling units during the presidential election tribunal.

In an interview with Arise Television on Friday, Arabambi accused the party of misleading the public about the reasons behind its failure in the 2023 election.

“We failed woefully in 54,000 polling units. We had no complete result to present at the tribunal. They engaged Obidients as agents, and because the party couldn’t pay them ₦10,000, they ran away with the results,” he said.

He further alleged that this shortfall was why the Labour Party couldn’t file its petition within the constitutionally allowed 21 days, as stipulated by the Electoral Act.

Arabambi also accused the party’s leadership—including presidential candidate Peter Obi—of turning around to falsely accuse the judiciary after failing to present complete evidence.

“We went to court to lie against the judiciary. It was our own failure. Four people were responsible for the disaster—one recently resigned, one defected to the APC, and the remaining two, Aisha Yesufu and Pastor Ighodalo, were in charge of the party’s finances,” he said.

Arabambi claimed this mismanagement marked the beginning of the crisis within the Labour Party, asserting that Peter Obi tried to suppress the truth.

He specifically blamed Aisha Yesufu, Valentine Ozigbo, Pastor Itua Ighodalo, and Oseloka Obaze for allegedly mishandling campaign funds, which he said significantly contributed to the party’s defeat at the polls.