Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, and the LP assembly in the House of Representatives, voiced their disapproval over the arrest of the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, in Edo State, deeming it as ‘distasteful, cruel, dehumanising,’ and a flagrant breach of democratic norms.
After being taken into custody on Wednesday in Benin by Zone 5 police headquarters operatives, Abure was subsequently granted bail at about 2 am on Thursday.
Addressing reporters on Thursday after regaining freedom, Abure tied his arrest to what he portrayed as the Labour Party’s campaign for national liberation.
Abure said, ‘After the general elections, they have been trying to instigate crises in the party; they try to bring false accusations against us. They have talked about forgery against us at a time when it didn’t work, they came with embezzlement. Any persons that are aggrieved in the party, they go and instigate them to write a petition against us. And the irony is that the police even act on those and at the end of the day, they discover that those things are false.’
Even after his release on bail, he pointed out that the police continued to detain the Edo State Chairman of the Labour Party, Kelly Ogbaloi, and the youth leader.
Sharing his thoughts on his official X handle, Obi voiced his apprehension about Abure’s arrest, drawing attention to the concerning spectacle of authorities tasked with preserving justice being implicated in its perversion.
He said, ‘Like many Nigerians, I observed the distasteful national television news reports detailing the humiliating arrest of the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure, earlier today in Benin City, Edo State.’
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‘My stance on this matter remains unwavering but does not explain watching the distressing image of our national chairman lying on the ground in the name of arrest. This act is undesirable, demeaning and unequivocally intolerable and must be condemned by any decent and civilised mind within the context of our present civic landscape in Nigeria.’
Victor Ogene, leading the LP caucus in the House of Representatives, denounced Abure’s arrest as both cruel and dehumanizing, asserting that it represented a clear departure from democratic norms in a statement released on Thursday.
They implored Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to delve into the fundamental factors contributing to the negative portrayal of the police, with a view to rectifying the underlying concerns.
The lawmakers stated that there was no excuse for the manner in which the police conducted the ill-timed and misleading arrest of the LP National Chairman. They emphasized that if there had been any need for the police to take Abure in, a simple invitation would have sufficed.