The David Mark Blood Offer

The David Mark Blood Offer

By Mas Damisa

The newly honoured Amulutoro of Egbaland, and President of the Senate, Brigadier General David Mark has offered his blood for the peace of Egbaland and Nigeria. “I will ensure that there is peace in Egbaland and Ogun at large. And I will do that even with the last pint of my blood. I will ensure that there is development from strength to strength and I will ensure that all Nigerians begin to do things according to the wisdom of God and all leaders will continue to rule according to the fear of the Lord.” He made this vow at St Peter’s Cathedral Church Ake, Abeokuta before dignitaries which included the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Michael Adedotun Gbadebo, Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dimeji Bankole. Mercifully, his office has not denied any part of the above quoted statement
Distinguished Senator David Mark is not averse to blood shedding given his background as a retired army one-star general. His offer came at a time his benefactors, the Egba people and kingdom are at odds with Ogun State governor, Gbenga Daniel. His mentor and political godfather, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is a distinguished Egba leader whose relationship with governor Daniel is also frosty. The ex-president’s daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello is also at daggers drawn with Daniel, who is having a tango with Speaker Dimeji Bankole. I am not sure of the quantity of blood required to make peace between and among this quarrelsome quartet; but Senator Mark appeared to have enough pints to spare. And of course, by the time of his visit to Ogun State, the stalemate between the State House of Assembly and Governor Daniel had grown worse to the extent that the State has no sitting Legislature for months. This calls for some more pints of blood if peace is to return to the state. Don’t ask me of the quantity of blood required for this distinguished intervention please.
Back in the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives not long ago had a face-off on the question of which of the two Chambers was superior to the other, for which the national budget was delayed. Only Senator Mark knows how much blood he shed to appease the distinguished honourables. Nigeria is presently groaning from the burden of the outrageous income package of the Parliament that is reputed to be about the costliest in the world. It is also believed to be one of the most unproductive Parliaments and yet the most flamboyant, an Assembly credited with the worst self-serving legislation anywhere in the world. As a privileged insider, Amulutoro Mark could have estimated the quantum of hot blood required to right the wrongs, although be is yet to disclose the actual value of his sacrifice in that direction.
In his home state in Benue, his Idoma kith and kin are reeling from the domineering rule of the Tiv ethnic nation and are planning to escape it through the request for the creation of Apa State. He must have shed voluminous pints of blood in that struggle, even if with nothing to show for it. I have not taken care to know what quantity of blood an average man has in his body, but being a distinguished Senator, his stream of blood never runs dry, I swear! When one young Alhaji cried foul over his stolen senatorial seat, he pointed accusing fingers at Senator David Mark, the distinguished Amulutoro. A lot of red blood must have been shed before the matter was eventually resolved by the courts. Enough of this bloody offer?
As the military governor of Niger State in the 1980’s, the home state of General Ibrahim Babangida, David Mark offered his blood and made his mark on the sands (don’t say treasury) of the State. When he was appointed Minister of Communications by Babangida, he shed his blood to ensure that telephone was out of reach of the poor: it was not meant for the poor, he said. He claimed to have been opposed to the military’s continued stay in power and so, was a threat to General Sani Abacha’s government. Rather than shedding his blood to make his point, he voted with his feet to Western Europe where he spent some cossy time at classy Golf courses reputedly owned by him. No sooner than Abacha died in 1998 than David Mark landed in Abuja preparatory to actualizing his senatorial ambition. He achieved this in 1999 and ever since has remained in the Senate and became its presiding officer in 2007. Right now, he is rearing for another term in the Senate – that is after some twelve years on the job. Who knows how much blood he shed to purchase that seat for keeps? Perhaps the reason why he called for automatic return tickets for members of the National Assembly was to enable him generates more blood for nation-wide peace sacrifice. He failed to convince his party on this free ticket, though. But he is not one to take defeat for a verdict, and so he approached the issue again and with a legislative fiat, opposition within his party and other parties are now shut out of contest to the National Assembly with Section 87 of the Electoral Act 2010. With political parties imposed with cost prohibitive primaries and conventions, only David Mark and his colleagues at the National Assembly possesses the wherewithal to contest the 2011 Parliamentary election.
There is no other time than now for Senator David Mark to fulfill his promise to make Nigerians and their leaders “to rule according to the fear of the Lord.” Where else should he start except from the National Assembly? David Mark was a prominent member of the infamous IBB boys and he made capital out of it. He became one of the Obasanjo boys and was crowned the Senate President even before the election results were counted; with his N60 million a quarter, and N240 million per annum income, Mark has made so much money in four years as a Senator and perhaps double that figure as Senate President. Having been fed so fat from the national treasury, his entire blood may not have been adequate to appease God for peace in Nigeria. There are those who died or suffered for the country without a kobo reward. Many are resting in their unmarked graves even as many more are half-alive in penury and misery. All we require from David Mark is to go and read Psalm 51 written by his Biblical name-sake, repent from his iniquity of misrule and gluttony and convince his colleagues in the Parliament to do likewise. We don’t need the blood of the Amulukoros but their restitution, chikena!