B’Haram: Gen Abubakar preaches dialogue

By Rotimi Ojomoyela
 Ado-Ekiti

Former Head of State, Gen Abdusalami Abubakar (Rtd), has identified dialogue as part of the solution to resolving the sectarian crisis currently rocking the nation, saying “As someone who was privileged to survive in the civil war, and saw our country return to democracy, I am troubled by the challenges currently confronting our country”.
Gen Abdusalami, who lamented the terror attacks on the nation had debased the country’s integrity among the comity of nations, said “Never in history has our country been subjected to this kind of bloodletting and disrespect for the sanctity of human lives. There had been cruel murder and slaughtering of children as well as women, who are innocent.
“As events of recent killings clearly show that no one is safe, no place is safe and no time is safe. The security problem in the country is very severe and needed all of us to search for solution,” he said.

Speaking in Ado Ekiti yesterday while commissioning the Administrative Block of the School of Nursing, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti built by Governor Kayode Fayemi, Abubakar said, “We must dispassionately understand the problems, so that we can work at the roots of them to proffer solution.
“We must therefore cooperate and all hands must be on deck to find solution to the crisis. We should not be looking for victory, solution should be the goal. The Government at all levels, the people at the crisis zone, security personnel and all aggrieved parties must dialogue and listen to one another for the sake of our future and our children.

“We must honestly look at the real issues involved and take immediate actions promptly. It must be accepted that dialogue is still a veritable tool under this circumstance”, Gen Abdusalami advised.
Abubakar, who returned Nigeria to democratic rule in 1999 after serving as a military head of State for about a year, also advised politicians across party lines to imbibe the culture of peace to prevent the country’s democracy from being aborted in the 2015 general elections.
Also speaking at the event, Governor Kayode Fayemi, said the huge investment of his government in the health sector is targeted at banishing poverty among the rank and file of Ekiti populace, saying “I have always believed in the age long axiom that health is wealth”.