Former President of the Senate, Dr. David Mark has
reiterated his commitment and loyalty to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
saying he would not abandon the party.
Speaking in Makurdi, on Monday during a stakeholders’
meeting, Senator Mark said he joined the PDP due to its ideology and not
because he wanted to become a Senator or to hold any office.
He assured the state executive and other stakeholders of the
party that PDP would come out of the crisis stronger than ever, adding that
peace would soon return to the party.
He however, advised “those who play PDP in the day time and
APC in the night”, to change their mind, because, according to him, “those in
the APC do change their mind also “.
Senator Mark also lamented the arrest and continuous
detention of former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam by the agency of
the state, stressing that, arrangements were in place to “do everything legally
possible to get him out”.
He condemned the spate of killings in Benue State and called
on Governor Samuel Ortom to as a matter of urgency, deploy means of securing
lives and properties of the citizenry, which he said was a cardinal point of
every government.
On the forthcoming local government polls in Benue, Senator
Mark urged party loyalists to remain calm and not be deterred by the ruling
party, which had allegedly vowed to write results from their rooms and take to
the radio for announcements.
“We are not going to rig the election, but we would not also
allow anybody to rig as well. We will not abandone you, we will fight for you
and stand by you”, he assured the aspirants.
Earlier, the state chairman of PDP, Hon. Sir John Ngbede
charged the stakeholders to work for the success of the party at the
grassroots, stressing that Benue State belonged to PDP and the party would emerge
victorious at the local government polls and 2019 general elections.
While assuring the aspirants of a leveled playing ground at
the party primaries, Ngbede said the party would hold councillorship and
chairmanship primaries on 18th and 26th April respectively, while the local
government polls would hold on the 3rd of June, 2017, as scheduled by the state
election umpire.
