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The Nigeria Labour
Congress has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to stop consulting
former President Olusegun Obasanjo on issues of national importance,
claiming that Mr. Obasanjo has done more harm to the current democratic
process than good.

Speaking with
journalists at a session held yesterday at the Labour house in Abuja to
celebrate Maurice Iwu’s removal as the Independent National Electoral
Commission chairman, the labour union’s chairman, Abdulwahed Omar, also
said that the group will mobilise to resist the appointment of any
partisan personality as the new chairman of the electoral body.

“We will not
dictate to Mr President whom to relate with or whom to consult on
matters of national interest, we wish to also categorically state, like
many concerned patriots, that we are very uncomfortable with Mr.
President’s seeming romance with former President Obasanjo,” he said.

“If President
Jonathan desires the trust and confidence of Nigerians, he must stop
hobnobbing with Obasanjo for he represents the most formidable danger
to the future of our democracy.”

According to the
union, “recent media reports which tend to suggest that Mr President is
considering the appointment of personalities that are clearly partisan
and known card carrying members of political parties or who had served
or are still serving the PDP government is disturbing.

“We will not, and
Nigerian people will never accept such characters to head our electoral
body. We will mobilise to resist any such appointment.”

The group also
asked Mr. Jonathan to respect Nigerians view on the kind of personality
to bring into the office, stating that though his removal of “Professor
Maurice Iwu despite the obvious diabolical backing by former President
Obasanjo is commendable, we want to make it clear that Iwu’s removal is
merely the beginning of the journey to credible elections.”

It further called
for the implementation of the Uwais panel recommendations to ensure
that electoral process in the country is credible, while stating the
position of an acting chairman in person of Solomon Soyebi should
quickly be addressed to assure a good preparation ahead of 2011
elections.