Kwande To Jonathan: Mark Is Deceiving You
San Francisco, Oct 21, (THEWILL) – Following the endorsement of the Presidential aspiration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan by major political forces of the Middle Belt, foremost Middle Belt politician, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande has advised President Jonathan against falling for “the antics of Senate President David Mark,” adding that Mark lied when he claimed to have political clout in the Middle Belt.
Kwande, who spoke against the backdrop of the so-called resolution of the leaders of the North-central geopolitical zone advising certain presidential aspirants to drop their ambition, pointedly told President Jonathan that the Senate President does not have the political influence to deliver any zone to the President.
The former diplomat in his statement described leaders of the zone who met in Mark’s house as a “coterie of influence peddlers.”
According to him, the Middle Belt cannot speak with one voice in a moment of political crisis, let alone single out one leader capable of dictating the thinking and minds of the entire North-central zone.
Describing those at the meeting as a “coalition of pseudo-political heavyweights,” Kwande told the Senate President that he lacks the power to dictate to the zone who should aspire for president or not.
Recalling David Mark’s infamous role in scuttling democracy in the country following the unjust annulment of the June 12, 1993 election presumed to have been won by late Chief MKO Abiola, Kwande wondered whether Mark has any moral authority to speak on democracy, despite having benefited ironically from a system he once actively helped to undermine.
He singled out former National Chairman of PDP, Dr. Ahmadu Ali and Mark as notorious advocates of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s failed third term agenda and cannot therefore now claim to speak on issues that fundamentally border on the political choices of the people of the Middle Belt.
Given the discordant voices from the Middle Belt over President Jonathan’s ambition, Kwande advised the Senate President to desist from parading a political clout he does not have in an ever-sophisticated Middle Beltan region where no leader can boast of being the infallible voice of the people.