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Senate President, David Mark, has come down hard on his colleague, Senator Babafemi Ojudu who accused him of masterminding the postponement of the general elections that had been scheduled for February.
Ojudu, an All Progressives Congress senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District, had earlier in the week accused Mark of being one of the brains behind the polls shift.
See Ojudu’s full text here: JONATHAN IS PLANNING TWO YEARS TENURE ELONGATION, SAYS SENATOR OJUDU
But Mark, in a statement issued through his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, described Ojodu’s allegation as “an undignifying mischief least expected of a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
He accused Ojodu of attempting to ridicule fellow senators and drag the Senate into a public disrepute.
Mark’s statement reads:
“I have neither canvassed the postponement or deferment of 2015 election nor has my body language ever suggested that.
“I am shocked that distinguished Senator Ojudu could descend to this level of mischief and blackmail for reasons that I am yet to understand.
“How could I call for the deferment of elections? Whereas I ran for the primary election of my party, the People’s Democratic Party and was elected unopposed.
“I picked and filled the Independent National Electoral Commission forms; I had commenced a rigorous campaign that took me to the length and breadth of my senatorial district. How else could I have shown commitment to the process.
“In no unmistakable terms, when the issue of insurgency came to the floor of the Senate and a Distinguished Senator introduced the issue of election I had cautioned that the issue before the Senate had nothing to do with election and that the issue before us in the Senate was insurgency and terrorism.
“I do hope Senator Ojodu has not embarked on a voyage to re-write history to suit his clandestine intentions.
“I know these are desperate times for a lot of politicians. But it has not called for this outright mischief. Different political affiliations notwithstanding, we all have a common goal to maintain the sanctity of our peace and unity.
“If Senator Ojodu feels strongly about any issue, he had opportunity to make his point before his colleagues and certainly not grandstanding in the media arena.”
“This is not personal but in the collective interest of Nigeria and Nigerians. The country is bigger than any of us. Our unity must be held sacrosanct”
The Senate , Mark maintained, will always remain one united family held together by national interest and would always stand together to defend national unity.