By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Senate President, David Mark, has vowed to deploy every necessary resources to ensure that the agitation for creation of more states in the country scales through in the National Assembly during his tenure.
In a statement, issued yesterday by his chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, Mark stated that his desire to create additional states was due to calls by some Nigerians to correct the imbalance that exists in states already created, to give every Nigerian a sense of belonging.
He made this vow while receiving four members of the House of Representatives and nine local government chairmen from Benue state, where he said he will sacrifice everything to achieve it.
“Even if it takes my last breath, I want to pursue the creation of state. I will put in my last breadth to ensure the creation of Apa State for my people,” Mark said.
Responding to calls on him to contest the 2015 senatorial seat, he said he would make his intention known as soon as the guidelines for the elections were released.
“I am a loyal, faithful and dedicated party man. I will only make my intention known when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) releases the guidelines and programme for the elections,” he said.
He urged the people to remain steadfast and loyal to the PDP citing good reasons to remain in the party.
He, however, cautioned aspirants to political offices to base their campaigns on issues that would positively impact on the citizenry, instead of engaging in mudslinging or character assassination.
In his speech earlier, the leader of the delegation, Sunday Ojo, said the visit was necessitated by pressure from citizens from Benue South Senatorial District to compel the Senate President to contest the 2015 senatorial seat.
Ojo, who is the Chairman of Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue, stressed that the Idoma community had no better candidate than Mark.
It would be recalled that Mark is among the lawmakers that have continued to champion the creation of more states, even though a lot of senators and House of Representative members have severally opposed this agenda on the grounds that the existing ones can barely be sustained.
The recently concluded National Conference called for the creation of 18 more states to bring the total in Nigeria to 54.
