A trilogy on David Mark in the works

While giving an insight into the literary work, the former journalist who had a stint with the Sunday New Nigerian, said the first book was not widely circulated and as such it was being reprinted based on calls for more copies. “Recently, I have received a lot of requests for more copies to be re-printed. […]

While giving an insight into the literary work, the former journalist who had a stint with the Sunday New Nigerian, said the first book was not widely circulated and as such it was being reprinted based on calls for more copies.

“Recently, I have received a lot of requests for more copies to be re-printed. So, we are doing a re-print of it which would be coming out in a few weeks,” Anyebe said.

Given the circumstances, such works could have been reviewed before a reprint, but the author thinks otherwise. “We are not going to do a review. It is a trilogy. The first one “The Shepherd Cometh” is just as it was in 1999. It covers the period from 1992 through… essentially, it takes it’s departure from the June 12 crisis up to the time the Senate President came back from exile, joined partisan politics and got elected into the Senate. That is where the book stops.

“He is one of those who have been roundly condemned as a foremost persons who stopped the June 12, 1992 presidential election. It is not a biography, definitely not. What the book tries to do is to look at his position in the events of that period. I tried to go back to look at his period as Governor in Niger State, and Minister of Communications. What I did is to actually see is whether his emergence as a leader of the Idomas just happened overnight or whether the trait was on maybe from his childhood or from the time he became a national figure.”

According to Steve, who was David Mark’s Special Adviser on Research and Strategy, by reviewing the first book, he might miss focus, saying “I did not want to disrupt the rest, because I have two other books coming. This first one is just like volume one of a trilogy. The next book is ‘Serving The Flock’. You know the shepherd leads his flock. It covers the period from 1999 when he became a Senator to 2007 when he became Senate President. The third one would cover the period of his presidency. That is why I did not alter the first book.

Having been Governor, Minister, Senator and then Senate President, speculation is rife that Senate President Mark may be gunning for higher position at the end of his current tenure in 2015. On this, Anyebe said his principal has not said anything. “He takes things as they come and leaves the future to God to always decide for him. When the time comes, we would get to know.”