David Mark dumps PDP as moves to unseat Tinubu thickens
Former Senate President David Mark has resigned his membership of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In his resignation letter seen by Daily Trust, the Benue born politician cited unresolved leadership crisis as reason for leaving his former party. On Tuesday night Mark, and a former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, estrange ally of […]
Former Senate President David Mark has resigned his membership of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In his resignation letter seen by Daily Trust, the Benue born politician cited unresolved leadership crisis as reason for leaving his former party.
On Tuesday night Mark, and a former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, estrange ally of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, were appointed as interim National Chairman and National Secretary of the soon-to-be-launched ADC coalition platform.
In his resignation letter addressed to the PDP Chairman in his Otukpo Ward in Benue State, Mark said unresolved internal issues had left the party in a shadow of its former self and exposed it to public embarrassment.
“I bring warm greetings to you and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Otukpo Ward 1, and by extension, to the entire Benue State and Nigeria. I write to formally inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the party with immediate effect.
“You may recall that over the years, I have remained firm and deeply committed to the ideals of the PDP. Even when nearly all stakeholders departed the party following our loss in the 2015 presidential election, I pledged to remain the last man standing,” the letter read.
Mark lamented that all efforts to reconcile and reposition the PDP to national relevance had failed, adding that recent events had weakened the PDP beyond recognition.
According to him, “After wide consultations with my family, friends, and political associates, I have resolved to join the National Coalition of Political Opposition Movement in Nigeria, as part of the collective effort to rescue our nation and preserve our hard-earned democracy.”
The coalition has vowed to unseat President Tinubu in 2027.
However, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) feels that the coalition does not stand a chance in the next general election.
In an interview with BBC, Acting National Chairman of the APC, Ali Bukar Dalori, said nobody outside Abuja talks about the the Atiku Abubakar-led coalition.
“We are not in any way threatened by the so-called coalition. We want to show not only Nigeria but the whole world that our politics is people-oriented. They have nothing marketable to sell to people. We [APC] that came through merger of political parties already enjoy that advantage. They can’t do anything to us.
“Nobody is talking about this coalition except in Abuja. And even in Abuja, they are secluded in a hotel, and when they are eventually defeated in elections, they will leave the country,” Dalori had said.