Elder statesman backs Sen. President’s 2015 re-election bid

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

An elder statesman and prominent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Benue State, Chief David Attah, has backed the Senate President, David Mark’s bid to return to  upper chamber of the national assembly in 2015.

Chief Attah who gave the backing in an interview with newsmen in Makurdi yesterday, maintained that Sen. Mark would enjoy a smooth ride back to the senate.

The erstwhile Chief Press Secretary to late Head of State Gen. Sani Abacha was reacting to remarks made by Chief Mike Okibe Onoja, a former Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defense who said Mark’s return to the senate may hit a brick wall for lack of popular support from the Idoma people.

The PDP elder said Chief Onoja has the legitimate right to contest against Mark for the Benue South Senatorial district but observed quickly that he may not go far in his bid in view of what he described as ‘special political circumstances and exigencies of the moment’.

The elder statesman posited that “at the moment David Mark, by virtue of his position as the Senate president and third most powerful Nigerian in the current political dispensation represent the voice of Idoma people. His re -election, in fact, will make him the highest ranking senator in the land.  For the Idoma people to shop for another person to replace him at this material time will tantamount to embarking on a political suicide mission by them.  Every Idoma man owes it as a duty to give Mark the necessary support to see him through as every one of us is reflected in the glory of his accomplishment in the senate, Benue State and at the national level at large” Attah said.

The elder statesman added that Sen. David Mark has made significant contributions to the overall well being of the Idoma people through numerous political appointments of Idoma sons and daughters into Federal Governing boards and Agencies, siting of federal projects in Idoma land, completion of various constituency projects criss-crossing the four Federal constituencies that make up Benue South senatorial Zone.

“David Mark may not have satisfied the core needs and the aspirations of the Idoma people which has always been the creation of Apa State, but the truth is that Mark has always been very passionate and consistent in his agitation for the creation of Apa state but he is clearly circumscribed by the constitutional requirements of state creation”, he argued.