MARK TO PDP FAITHFULS – STOP BICKERING, FORM CREDIBLE OPPOSITION

The President of the Senate, David Mark, has urged PDP faithfuls to stop bickering and face the new task of providing a credible and formidable opposition in the country.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mark’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Paul Mumeh, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja.
The statement said that Mark made the appeal in Abuja at a parley with elected PDP Senators and members of the House of Representatives.
The senate president said it was important for PDP members to put the failure of the last elections behind them and concentrate in building a strong and united party, ready to offer credible opposition.

DAVID MARK VOWS TO REMAIN IN PDP

• Says defectors are fair weather friends
Senate President David Mark has said he will remain a loyal member of the Peoples Democratic Party, despite the fact that the party lost the March 28 presidential election and looks set for yet another tough contest in the governorship contests on Saturday.
Mark who stated this on Tuesday during his 67th birthday celebration mass at the Catholic Chapel in his Abuja residence, stressed that those who defected from the PDP to All Progressive Congress were fair weather friends.
He maintained that his confidence in his party remained unshaken, adding that, “If I will be the last man standing, I will remain in PDP, defectors are fair weather friends.

DAVID MARK TAKES A CLEAR LEAD IN BENUE SOUTH DISTRICT, WINS IN SIX OUT OF NINE LGAS SO FAR

MAKURDI – As the results of the presidential and National Assembly elections held Saturday trickles in, the result of the senatorial race in the Benue South Senatorial district shows that the Senate President, David Mark has taken a clear lead in six out of the nine local government areas, LGAs, that make up the district.
Results so far garnered by Vanguard at the collation centre in Otukpo shows that the six LGAs won by Mark included Ogbadibo, his APC opponent, Daniel Onje’s hometown, where he polled 8,102 votes to Onje’s 5,669 votes.

2015: WE WON’T ALLOW THE OPPOSITION TO RIG US OUT—MARK

The Senate President, Senator David Mark, has told members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to work hard in order to guarantee victory at the various stages of the February elections.
The Senate President also assured that the PDP would win the elections convincingly and would not allow the opposition parties to rig it out.
Senator Mark said:”We want to win convincingly at all levels. There will be no room for any manipulation. We as members of the PDP will not rig. We will not allow opposition parties to rig us out. We have enough evidence to show to the electorate why the PDP remain the preferred choice in 2015″.

I’VE FORGIVEN THE LAWMAKER THAT ASSAULTED ME – MARK

Senate President, David Mark, on Friday said he had forgiven Hon. Abdulmalik Cheche (PDP Niger) who assaulted him on the floor of the House of Representatives chamber on Thursday during the pandemonium that ensued following the invasion of the National Assembly by security agents.
Mark in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, also said that he did not hold any grudge against Cheche over his action.
Mark added that both the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal and the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Babangida Aliyu, had already pleaded with him on behalf of the lawmaker over his unruly behaviour.

MARK WEEPS AS CONSTITUENTS PURCHASE NOMINATION FORM FOR HIM

Senate President, David Mark, reportedly broke down in tears on Monday as he accepted the 2015 Peoples Democratic Party nomination form from his constituents in the Benue South Senatorial District, to return to the Senate next year.
A statement by Mark’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Kolawole Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, explained that the nine local government council chairmen in Benue South Senatorial zone purchased the party nomination form in Makurdi.
The statement added that the people said they want Mark to return to the Senate unchallenged.

BENUE ENDORSES MARK FOR FIFTH TERM IN SENATE

Governor of Benue State, Dr. Gabriel Suswam, yesterday announced that the Benue South Senatorial District seat currently occupied by the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark would not be vacant in 2015.
The governor, who spoke at the public presentation of a book: Suswam, Politics and Governance in Benue State”, said Mark had done so well in the last twelve years that he deserved another term at the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
Suswam urged other political aspirants from the district not to waste their time contesting for the seat in the next parliamentary elections. Addressing a crowded audience in Senate, majority of whom were Benue indigenes at a book presentation in Abuja ,Suswam maintained that Mark’s seat at the Senate was not contestable.

FULL MILITARY ACTION ANSWER TO GIRLS’ ABDUCTION —MARK

Senate President David Mark at the weekend asserted that negotiation is no longer an option but full military action is required against abductors of the Chibok schoolgirls, even as he prayed God to touch the hearts of the abductors to free them unconditionally.
“They have touched the hearts and souls of Nigerians by abducting and kidnapping our children. Children are our future. They have in effect declared war on Nigeria and Nigerians. We are not going to sit down and fold our hands. The federal government must intensify military action against the perpetrators and bring the issue of Boko Haram to a logical conclusion, Mark said.
A statement issued by his spokesman, Paul Mumeh, yesterday said Senator Mark spoke in Asaba, Delta State at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church during the funeral service for Lady Obi-Bridget Ngbelenwa Okpuno, the mother of High Chief Uche Okpuno.

ASUU: THOSE WHO SIGNED PACT FOR FG DIDN’T KNOW THEIR RIGHT FROM THEIR LEFT - MARK

THE Senate has disclosed that the Federal Government negotiation team that signed the 2009 agreement with ASUU, ignorantly signed the pact that has now become a bone of contention between the government and the union.
Senate President, David Mark, made this known on Wednesday as the upper legislative body waded into the prolonged impasse.
Mark said he had thought that details of the agreement, as revealed by the Senate Committee on Education, were mere proposals in view of the degree of trivialities involved.
According to him, the nature of the agreement showed that those who represented the Federal Government at the negotiation table where it was signed, were people who did not know their right from their left.

WHY SOVEREIGN NATIONAL C ONFERENCE CAN’T WORK NOW, BY MARK

Senate President David Mark has urged proponents of sovereign national conference to forget it.

He spoke at the 53rd Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Calabar, Cross River State.

Mark, represented by Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), said it was it was not feasible, until the section on Constitution amendment is reviewed.

He said: “The 1999 Constitution (as amended) made provisions for its alteration. It did not make provisions for any new constitution.

“It is in answer to the clamour for a new constitution by vocal sections of the polity that an amendment to make provisions for how a new constitution can come about is being contemplated.

SOME GOVERNORS’ ACHIEVEMENT CLAIMS ARE MERE PROPAGANDA —MARK

Senate President David Mark yesterday took stock of the delivery of democracy dividends in the states and declared that some state governors have merely engaged in propaganda with nothing on ground to show for their performance.
Mark made this remark while declaring open a two-day retreat for the Senate Press Corps in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.
“We have cases of governors who claimed they have constructed tunnels but you cannot find them. We have cases of overheads and you could not see them. We have cases of those who claimed they constructed dams and there were no dams,” he said.
Mark, however, commended Governor Godswill Akpabio for the transformation of the state in the areas of infrastructure.

REPTILES,WEEDS TAKE OVER ABUJA NATIONAL STADIUM – MARK

SENATE President David Mark Tuesday warned that if Nigeria as a country must get it right in the area of Sports and compete favourably with other nations of the world, there was the urgent need for the Federal government to stop what he termed lip service to the sector and show serious commitment.

Lamenting the deplorable condition of Sports and its facilities in the country, the Senate President who cited the Abuja National Stadium as a case study in this bad state of the sector, stressed that the edifice had been taken over by reptiles and weeds due largely to lack of attention by the government.

He equally decried the way the country’s Super Eagles was starting its 2014 World Cup qualifier, warning, “It will be a major embarrassment if Nigeria fails to qualifier for the World Cup.

DAVID MARK DENIES BUYING TUFACE, ANNIE N47M FERARI CAR

The onslaught from the public came almost as soon as the news broke on social networks and blogs; a metalic orange Ferari sports car pictured at the venue of Tuface and Annie’s wedding in Dubai with words Wedding gift from Senator David Mark to Tuface, Anniescribbled on cardboard paper and stuck to the car, almost ruined the news of Tuface, Annie’s wedding.

Vanguard had not reported this as we awaited confirmation from the Senate president who has now through a statement issued by his Senior Special adviser on Media& Publicity Mr Kola Ologbondiyan denied buying this car gift for Tuface and Annie Idibia.

The statement reads

OUR BUDGETING SYSTEM, A FAILURE –MARK

…says it hasn’t brought democracy dividends

Senate President David Mark yesterday picked holes in the country’s budgeting system, saying that Nigerians had not benefitted from the yearly ritual.

This is even as the senators commenced moves to scrap the envelope-based budgeting system, which confines Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to pre-determined amount by the Budget Office and the Finance Ministry.

“I think that there is basically a problem with the envelope system and that has to change.

“Our budgets over the years have not brought growth, it has not improved employment rate, it has not brought the dividends of democracy to the people as they expected and I think that is not in the best interest of this country.

NIGERIA HAS FEW FRIENDS IN AFRICA – MARK

Senate President David Mark has said his experience in South Africa during the Nations Cup final has shown that Nigeria has only few friend on the African Continent.
Mark led the Federal Government’s delegation to South Africa to spur Super Eagles to victory in their encounter with Burkina Faso in the final match of the soccer competition.
Speaking at plenary yesterday during a debate on a motion by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and 107 others, on Nigeria’s Outing at the AFCON 2013, Mark noted that very few people from other African countries wanted Nigeria to win the trophy.

THIRD MAINLAND BRIDGE, A WAITING NATIONAL CATASTROPHE - MARK

 SENATE President, David Mark, has warned that the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge would be a major national disaster if allowed to collapse.

This is as the Senate will, today, debate a motion on the imminent collapse of the bridge.

Senator Mark said “the bridge is an important edifice and its collapse will be a major catastrophe, as many lives may be lost.”

The Third Mainland Bridge, measured 11.8 km and connected the Mainland to Lagos Island, was commissioned by former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, in 1990.