Rivers Crisis: Democracy At Risk, Abdulsalami Warns

L-R:Govs. Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Gov. Gabriel Suswam of Benue, at the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja, yesterday

A Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, yesterday appealed to politicians in Rivers State to put their house in order to avoid overheating the polity and truncating the nation’s democracy.
Abubakar made the remarks in his residence at an interactive session with members of the Niger State chapter of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Minna.
He described the crisis in Rivers State as sad and unfortunate, adding: “I hope that the politicians will try to put a break and reflect on what they are doing in order not to truncate democracy.
“In democracy there is limit to what freedom is all about. Your freedom stops when you start to infringe on others freedom,” he said.
The former head of state stressed the need for politicians to take note of this and check themselves, and pointed out that “certainly, what is happening in Rivers State is sad’’.
While praying for the peace of the country, he explained that without peace, “there will be no nation and people will not have the wherewithal to make a living’’.
He said that for the past three years, he had been involved in peacemaking efforts in Sudan, following the war between the Republic of Sudan and South Sudan.
According to him, having been involved in these peace efforts, I always pray that we must have peace in this country; having seen the devastation of war in other countries.