The factional chairman of the Labour Party, Mr Apapa, had earlier had an altercation with the director-general of Peter Obi's presidential campaigns before court proceedings started.
Riotous supporters of the Labour Party on Wednesday mobbed a factional national chairman of the party, Lamidi Apapa, at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja.
Mr Apapa attended the court's proceedings on Wednesday, where the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, are challenging the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Bola Tinubu's victory as Nigeria's president-elect.
PREMIUM TIMES reported earlier that before the commencement of the day's sitting, Mr Apapa had an altercation with Akin Osuntokun, director general of Peter Obi's presidential campaign council.
Messrs Apapa and Osuntokun engaged in a confrontation over who would sit at the litigants' gallery in the courtroom, as the former asked Mr Osuntokun to give up his seat.
But Mr Osuntokun did not move.
The event set off what would eventually be the fate awaiting Mr Apapa on Wednesday.
How Mr Apapa was attacked
The trouble escalated on Wednesday shortly after the court adjourned proceedings for the day.
As Mr Apata sauntered out of the courtroom to a horde of court reporters outside, the mob, comprising young people, intercepted him.
They stopped Mr Apapa from granting interview to the journalists, as they accused him of factionalising the Labour Party.
"Fake national chairman, go home," the mob jeered at Mr Apapa, stripping him almost naked as police officers came to his rescue.
The mob removed his cap and attempted to tear his grey-coloured flowing gown (agbada).
He was later taken into protective custody within the precincts of the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
A video clip capturing the scene and earlier published by PREMIUM TIMES can be found here. https://twitter.com/PremiumTimesng/status/1658795920698355714?t=Fx2qUYz5VIcSjhXKdcp_Iw&s=19
The police later released him after the mob was brought under control, with many of them peacefully dispersed.
Accuses Obi of party leadership crisis
Mr Apapa, after emerging from the milieu, told journalists that the party's presidential candidate was responsible for the leadership crisis rocking the party.
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Shortly after the February presidential poll, where Mr Obi came third in the race, the suspended national chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, ran into troubled waters with other party stalwarts who sued him.
Subsequently, an Abuja High Court restrained Mr Abure from parading himself as the party's national chairman.
Following Mr Abure's suspension, Mr Apapa, a deputy national chairman of the party, assumed the headship of the LP in an acting capacity.
Mr Apapa explained that the leadership tussle was avoidable had Mr Obi respected the order of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, which barred Mr Abure and three others from parading themselves as party honchos.
Mr Abure was accused of forgery and perjury - an allegation he denied.
Speaking on the alleged receipt of N500 million from opposition political parties to destabilise the party, Mr Apapa said he knew nothing about it.
