By Danlami Nmodu
President of Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC ,Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar has warned against alleged plan by the Federal government to postpone this month’s general elections .If the elections are postponed , he warned , “inadvertently, they might also be provoking even more violence”.
Omar issued this warning Thursday afternoon in an exclusive interview with Newsdiaryonline in Abuja .He spoke while the National Council of State meeting was taking place amid tension in the country.
The NLC president said ,“Going by what you said, if it is true that government is planning to postpone the election and the majority of the people are saying no, major individuals are saying no, and above all INEC itself is saying they are ready,I think if the reason for them to call for the postponement of the election is to prevent violence,perhaps inadvertently, they might also be provoking even more violence.because people might read a lot of meaning into it.
Asked to whether in deed he believes postponement will provoke violence, Omar said , “Of course yes.
“Because you are talking about something that is to be done and everybody is planning towards it including the INEC and now government,as you said, government is now planning to postpone it.
“In the first place,that will amount to undermining the independence of INEC.If INEC is truly independent, they should be allowed to operate.
“The function of government is to ensure that the country is secured.But if it is based on security, then the correct thing should be done.It is not government that can postpone election,because there is constitutional provision that election must be conducted.
“For example,a new president must emerge either through reelection or election of another one 90 days before the last day of the existing regime which I suppose is going to be about 29th of May.Now if that is the case, when are we going to postpone it to.If we postpone this election, it might be for one or two weeks ,otherwise ,we are going to run into trouble and if we run into trouble ,who will take responsibility?
“Nobody can afford to breach the constitution blatantly.
When further asked ,”assuming Nigerians don’t understand what government or its agents are saying ,is there any reason why these elections should be postponed from NLC’s point of view ?”
Omar replied:“No ,as far as we are concerned , there is no reason.You said we (issued) a statement.There is no reason for this election to be postponed.
“What must be done , must be done in order to ensure that elections are carried out ..as fixed and planned.Anything short of that will only compound the problem of Nigeria,”the NLC president further warned.
He dismissed fears that the National Council of State might endorse shift of election .He said the council ‘s role is advisory and it cannot endorse postponement.The council can only advise a sitting president ,not an institution like INEC that constitutionally saddled with the task of conducting elections.
Reports later indicated that even the Council at its meeting rejected the proposal to postpone the elections.But the battle for the shift of polls is known to have been taken to the courts as some people earlier in the week prayed Abuja court to ask INEC to postpone the elections.
Also, Omar raised alarm about threat to his life following the lingering controversy over the NLC-Kriston Lally Housing project.Omar assured the subscribers that everything was being done to ensure refund of the funds to people whose names have been confirmed to be on the list.
The NLC President whose tenure is coming to an end listed several achievements he believes his tenure chalked up especially the new minimum wage of N18,000.He expressed the hope that his successor will take up the case for a review of the minimum wage.
Omar also assured that the rules of NLC delegates elections will not be changed after the stipulated deadline.
Watch out for the full interview.
