Ahead of Saturday’s rerun election for the Benue South Senatorial seat, former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark has counseled his constituents to come out en masse to exercise their civic duties.
In doing so, Senator Mark urged them to comply with the rules of the game by being law abiding just as he counseled those fanning the embers of war to think otherwise.
Senator Mark added that being in politics is a call for service and not a do or die affair, saying that the welfare and well being of the people is paramount.
He decried the series of unprovoked attacks on his supporters in the build up to the election and urged the people of Benue South not to be deterred by the antics of opposition but to demonstrate their civility by conducting themselves properly.
Senator Mark reminded his people that the opposition may deliberately provoke them to disrupt the election but “you must stand tall and exercise your franchise within the ambits of the law.”
As for him, he reiterated that the election is about the welfare and interest of the Idoma/Igede people of Benue State, which only the people have locus standi to decide.
According to Mark, “What we shall not accept is for external forces to decide who represents us. This is an election that affects the political destiny of our people. No outsider should decide for us. We must take our destiny in our hands”.
Meanwhile, the former traditional political opponent to Senator Mark in Benue South, Alhaji Abubakar Usman otherwise called “Young Alhaji” has led a political coalition of all political parties in the zone to rally support for the re-election of Senator Mark on Saturday.
At a rally held in Otukpo yesterday, Young Alhaji told the people to vote for the former Senate President as the only political figure that can save the Idoma/Igede people from political extinction.
Otukpo, the traditional headquarters of Benue South stood still for a greater part of the day as the political stakeholders converged for Mark’s re-election.
The rerun election is between Senator Mark of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Daniel Onjeh of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
