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Ebola: The world should come to our aid – Ex-Nigeria Leader
Former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar has called on the global community to expedite interventions to curtail the spread of the deadly Ebola disease, saying the present situation is very serious.
The strange disease has so far killed over 930 people in West Africa and sent health and security authorities in the sub-region and elsewhere into animated emergency posturing.
“Certainly, certainly it is really serious,” he told journalists in brief comments when he paid a courtesy call on former Ghanaian Head of State Jerry Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings in Accra on Monday.
He said so serious is the situation that in Sierra Leone for instance, there is food scarcity because people are holed up in their homes, afraid and unable to go out. “They are imprisoned in their own homes. The world should come to our aid,” he said.
The 72-year-old ex-Army General is in Ghana with his wife and three of his children to receive an honorary Doctorate Degree, along with former President Rawlings and the former Vice Chancellor of UEW, Prof Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, to be conferred on them by the University of Education, Winneba, (UEW) on Thursday, August 14.
The two former army capos are being honoured for successfully superintending their respective countries’ transition from military rule to civilian governance, and Prof Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, for being the first Vice Chancellor of the University.
For Rawlings, his honour is also in recognition of his establishment of the University. Present at the meeting were Prof. Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw, Vice Chancellor (UEW); Rev. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni, the Registrar(UEW); and Mr. Steve van Kamassah, Deputy Registrar and Head of International Relations and Public Affairs (UEW).
General Abdulsalami will also deliver a lecture at the UEW on Wednesday, August 13.
He had early on visited Ghana’s former president J.A. Kufuor at his residence, also in Accra.
According to General Abdulsalami, Ghana and Nigeria remain brothers in spite of occasional rivalries and while in Ghana, he had been sharing thoughts with his former colleagues in office on the economic and security challenges facing the sub-region.
General Abdulsalami was the 11th Head of State of Nigeria, from 1998-99, stepping in after the sudden death of then Head of State General Sani Abacha and supervised a national election and handed over power to President Olusegun Obasanjo on 29 May 1999.
