Mark’s Experience And The Benue South Re-run Election -By Michael Okwori

I am not a prophet but I can make an intelligent guess. I do not claim to see tomorrow like Nostradamus, but I can see why the “great” David Mark will lose to the young, brave Comrade Daniel Onjeh in the fast-approaching re-run election of February 13, 2016 which will determine who represents the people of Benue South otherwise known as Zone C in the Nigerian Senate. For many voters, Senator David Mark has simply overstayed his welcome in the red chamber, having served as Senator for 16 years (eight of which saw him as Senate President) and a change of representation is needed.

The Idoma nation and indeed Benue state as a whole cannot deny the fact that Senator David Mark is a great man. Mark is a great man by many standards. He was Senate President for eight years and under his leadership, Senators could truly be called “distinguished” for at least not fighting like thugs on the floor of the chamber, as we saw under past leaderships. He provided a stable leadership in the senate. His critics said he found a way to ensure that there was equitable distribution of ‘legislative largesse’ among all members and that kept them quiet. I celebrated his leadership qualities in the maiden edition of my magazine, Leaders and Legends and also on a radio broadcast session.

If you measure greatness by wealth acquisition, Mark is truly great. In fact, he is said to be one of the richest men in Nigeria today. Unfortunately, his senatorial district – Benue South or Zone C – remains one of the poorest and most marginalised regions in Nigeria. This is a fact and a single visit to Otukpo, the seat of the Och’Idoma and headquarters of the Idoma nation will convince you that the region is indeed marginalised. When Nigerians who were not familiar with the region diverted from the flooded Lokoja-Abuja route to pass through Otukpo, two years ago, they found it difficult to believe they were passing through the home town of the powerful Senator Mark. Young men in dirty rags roasted yams by the highway and ran to make sales to travelers who struggled to drive through the pot-hole-infested roads.

George Onmonya Daniel, a journalist, wrote on Facebook about the state of toilets in a public hospital in Otukpo last year when he visited his sick father:

“These are (sic) some of the toilets at General Hospital, Oturkpo, Benue State. I was so embarrassed today when I went to visit my dad at Ward 1. This is simply unacceptable. This is not right. How much will it cost to build decent toilets for sick people. I am telling you I am already sick. This is so unfair. I have confirmed that nurses have not been paid for over 6 months, doctors as well, so you obviously don’t expect anything serious. I am going to write about this matter, but I am so tired right now and so angry”. (I have deliberated omitted the disgusting pictures of the dirty pit toilets he uploaded but anyone can see them online by doing a simple Google search for ‘Otukpo toilets.’)

If Otukpo, where the family house of Senator Mark is located, can have the sort of look depicted above, then one can easily imagine how the other parts of Zone C look like. The writer did not say Mark was responsible for the decay in infrastructure or the unpaid salaries but he wondered why the power and wealth of the Senator did not translate to a better situation in his hometown.

The campaign strength and strategy of Senator Mark has always centred on the creation of Apa State and the advice to the electorate in Zone C never to join the opposition. It is no secret that the Idoma have never produced a Governor in Benue State, despite being the second largest nationality in the state, with many eminently qualified sons and daughters to do the job. Rather than pushing for zoning, the Idoma have over the years come to fantasise about Apa State creation like it is all that is needed to solve human problems. David Mark was seen as the man who would deliver Apa State to the Idoma on a platter of gold, and he never failed to use Apa State creation to his political advantage, always reassuring Idoma delegates to his home and office that he was working hard on it. The Apa State campaign strategy worked for him so well that anyone who voiced interest in contesting for the Zone C senatorial seat against Mark was seen as an enemy of the Apa State creation and the entire Idoma nation. Today, the Idoma are angry with Mark over Apa. They have not gotten Apa State. They also have not gotten the development or governorship seat that the dreams of Apa State prevented them from seeking.

In fact, it was calculated that former President Goodluck Jonathan would “hand over” power to Mark in 2019 after winning the 2015 presidential election. However, state creation is not what one Senator – or even a Senate President – can create without recourse to the Constitution. The calculation that Jonathan would win turned out as a wrong one after all. Today, the Apa State campaign strategy cannot fly and PDP has also become the opposition party.

If the Apa State and “always be with the winning party” strategies could not fly for Mark, then a new story needs to be sold. The new story is about the alleged “closeness” of Comrade Daniel Onjeh and Senator George Akume, the perceived APC leader in Benue State. The campaigners in support of Mark say when the election that took Mark to the Senate was annulled by a Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi and a re-run ordered, Tiv citizens celebrated the annulment more than the Idomas. Supporters of Mark exaggerated this celebration of election annulment and turned it into a campaign strategy. “The Tiv do not want our progress,” they said. “The only man strong enough for them is Mark. They want to install Onjeh as their puppet.”

The campaign strategy has also been exaggerated to the point where it has been discarded because people have been asking how Senator Akume could truly support a full-blooded Idoma from a part of Idomaland where the spiritual force of Alekwu is feared to go against its own people. People have wondered how Akume and the Tiv nation tied the hands of the great and powerful Mark from developing Idomaland with the development allowances for the Zone. People have been asking why Mark could not find any Idoma journalist to work with him in a key position but preferred – and still prefers – Paul Mumeh from the Delta and Kola Ologbondiyan from Kogi State. Or whether the Tiv and Akume made him sack an Idoma man as his Chief of Staff only to appoint Senator Manzo from Taraba State as replacement. It is good to want to appear nationalistic but a man who buys beer and pepper soup for strangers in beer parlours while his family has nothing to eat will eventually lose the support and respect of his family. This is the situation today.

Mark’s supporters have argued that in the US, a senator who is performing well can remain in the senate for life unchallenged. But as they already know, this is not America but Nigeria and their candidate cannot be said to have performed well except in the lives of his family and close friends. Senator David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark has been rejected as his people’s senator after representing them for 16 years. Comrade Daniel Onyirofie Onjeh is the new bride that everyone is admiring. Come February 13, 2016, the voters in the nine local governments will file out to vote for Onjeh. Military and police intimidation will not be used like in past elections in the zone. It is a new dawn. So many factors are counting for Onjeh. The former president, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and West African Students Union (WASU) is not new to politics. He has served in various leadership positions as a student unionist. A graduate of Political Science and Economics, B.A. (Double Honours) from the University of Ghana, Legon, Onjeh is seen as the face of hope and change. Where Generals fear to tread, the “little” Daniel is fearlessly conquering. For political watchers, there is no doubt that David Mark, the big tree, is set to fall politically at the hand of Daniel Onjeh, the small axe. The avalanche of defections from the PDP to the APC in support of Onjeh attests to this. The Idoma, following Mark’s advice in the years that PDP ruled, will not play opposition politics. No wonder admirers are already calling Onjeh “our senator-in-waiting.”

Michael Okwori, an OAP, writes from Abuja.