The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark has disclosed that he is an unrepentant democrat and that his premature retirement from the military was because of his support for the restoration of democracy in Nigeria.
He also denied any involvement in the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election which was adjudged the best election conducted in the country and won by late business mogul, Chief MKO Abiola. Mark noted that “I was certainly not a party to it nor was I aware of it.”
Mark, who was recently re-elected Senate President, made this known in a book, entitled, “The shepherd cometh.” He said that he was retired from the military because of his conviction that democracy must be restored in the country.
In the book which is expected to be presented to the public soon, Senator Mark described the allegation that himself and some other senior officers held former President Ibrahim Babangida hostage and forced him to annul the election as wild, untrue and must be discarded.
According to him, “Although, I was a Brigadier General, I was not part of the administration at that time. I was not a member of the National Defence Security Council, NDSC, or the executive council. I had been assigned as Director of Strategic Studies at the National War College and in fact was lecturing on the role of military in a democratic society.”
The book which was edited by the former Editor of New Nigeria Newspapers, NNN, Mallam Yakubu Aliyu, chronicled the political events between 1992 and 1999, putting Senator David Mark in perspective.