President of the Senate, David Mark, said he would defend, with the last drop of his blood, the unity of the country.

He said that the Senate and the National Assembly would stand firmly and vote for the unity and continued corporate existence of Nigeria, no matter the odds or challenges.

Mark, who stated this in a goodwill message to Muslim faithful on the celebration of Eid-el-Maulud signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, urged all Nigerians, especially Muslims and Christians, to unite in prayer for the peace and unity of the nation, “in order to put our detractors to shame.”

The President of the Senate noted: “The current security challenges which has truly tasked and threatened the nation must be decisively confronted”.

“This is no time to sit on the fence and engage in the blame game. The situation has degenerated to an intolerable level leading to the mass movement (exodus) of our people from one end of the country to the other. We must, as a people, rise up and halt this.

“Government at all levels and the security operatives must restore hope and peace that would engender confidence in our people to stop this drift. We have toiled over the years to keep Nigeria one. We cannot afford to slip now”.

Noting the scepticism of most Nigerians over the deregulation policy, Mark said the present administration has demonstrated the political will to implement the market oriented reforms, pointing out that the subsidy re-investment (SURE) programme would be a testimony.

The SURE programme, Mark opined, would reverse in positive term the nation long hobbled by political instability, corruption, inadequate infrastructure and poor macro-economic management.

Said Mark: “The challenge at the moment is to diversify the economy away from its overdependence on the capital intensive oil sector which provides 95 per cent o four foreign exchange earnings and about 80 per cent of budgetary revenues,” He reiterated the resolve of the National Assembly to carefully scrutinise the 2012 appropriation bill before it “so that we can pass an implementable budget and avoid the annual rhetoric of inability to implement.”

http://www.afrikeo.com/news/90446-mark-i-will-defend-nigeria-s-unity-with-my-blood

Are you defending your oil royalties, and fat a/ss payroll or are you seriously defending the unity of the people?  Mr. Senate President, I haven't heard of by fire/by force unity, however, if you want to defend the people's unity with your blood

1. Introduce the bill to annul the "statutory transfers" rights, thus, make NASS pay changeable and questionable, NEXT

2. In that same bill, be ready to defend a substantial cut; using countries of the same GDP / per capita as a sample, know how much their leaders earn and fix your salary within same range. I'm sure that's like a 70% cut both in salaries, benefits and perks; DO NOT FORGET to defend the bill with your position (if the bill doesn't pass, you will resign). NEXT

3. In that same bill, attach a provisional clause (for govt officials, and all parties such as contractors, vendors, etc associated with the govt at all levels both arm and type) stipulating the "DEATH PENALTY" for corruption moving forward, and hold every leader accountable including yourself and the president, everyone (no selective justice) is subject to that provision.

4. Listen to the people whom you want to defend with your blood and know their demands; (Resource Control, Security, Improved economy, Reduction in Govt Waste aka expenditures at all levels of government et al pressing issues) and then follow up on them.

Now after you have done this, you will have the blessing of the people to defend their unity with your blood, else without that blessing, your blood will be in vain.

How many times have we heard this?

, hmmmn! you mean defending your source of loot?

Defend Nigeria ko, defend Nigeria ni. or u wan defend the pot of your soup with your blood.

Mr Mark. We dont want you to defend Nigeria with your blood. We want you to ensure that there is good governance and accountability in the country. Defend the cause of the poor and millions of neglected Nigerians living in poverty while your blood is still running,

David Mark - " I will Defend Nigeria's Unity with My Blood"

Translation -"I will do everything possible to maintain the status quo so that we can continue to loot the country
                 blind."

slip of tongue.

How did he defend Nigeria from the grip of Turai?

Nigerian masses  to David Mark -  Don't shed your blood,  just reduce your salary and allowances by 50%.

I bet that will be worse than shedding blood, by these greedy legislooters.

Irony of life, Why are Northerners always saying this, so funny!

Common guys, why all these attacks? They guy may not be perfect, but among all the "elected" representatives we have in the national assembly, who else has stepped forward to find solutions to pressing national problems? Anyone remember his doctrine of necessity that saved Nigeria from major political crisis after Yaradua's death and does anyone remember who was first northern leader - religious or elected to speak up against Boko Haram and Islamic terror when everyone was too afraid to even mention the BH word?  Let us be fair here!

An attention-seeking leader! Hoping to see his name inscribe in the milestones for heros!

its people like you, IBB etc that will say such things bc u've stolen so much from it n like it d way it is

Ranks007:

Irony of life, Why are Northerners always saying this, so funny!

Because of southern oil

Before Nko na me go defend am for you, once you loose that seat you will start making noise like Elrufai and co.

‘You can go’ (with the oil!)
on FEBRUARY 6, 2012 · in PEOPLE & POLITICS
 
By OCHEREOME NNANNA
AT last, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) met and spoke out since the Boko Haram terrorism received a turbo-charged boost from quarters that are gradually being exposed by our security agencies. The Forum’s tongue had been stolen by the cat (so it seemed) as the Al Qaeda-inspired foreign agents bombed, killed and destroyed in parts of Nigeria’s Muslim North.

Apart from their self-appointed media image launderers who obviously seek dialogue with the federal government on their behalf with a view to being given post-amnesty contracts (as is the case with the erstwhile media defenders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND) all well meaning Nigerians had been unequivocal with their condemnation of these terrorists. Those who have stood on the side of Nigeria’s survival and development cut across ethnic and religious divides.

They have been unanimous in their conviction that in every part of the world (including the Muslim world) you don’t dialogue with religious fanatics or politicians masquerading under religion to kill innocent people. You annihilate them and later on look into what grievances they may be peddling. Even here in Nigeria, that had been the ways we solved the Maitatsine, El Zakzaky, and the first chapter of the Boko Haram uprisings.

The brutal repressions of these fundamentalists were done when Muslims (President Shehu Shagari, General Ibrahim Babangida and President Umaru Yar’Adua) were in power. Nobody then spoke about “dialogue” or “amnesty”.



The case of Boko Haram has been clear and unequivocal: they want an Islamic republic of Arewa in which Western education will be outlawed. The real Boko Haram group has not shifted grounds on these demands. It is the opportunistic politicians and merchants of crisis that are distorting Boko Haram’s revolutionary intents in the North as a fight for “justice”, all in vain attempts to justify their claim that Boko is doing the same thing that MEND did and must be compensated as MEND was.

When ACF finally spoke, what came out dismayed many but did not surprise those of us who understand their raison d’etre. ACF is just like Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo and Afenifere Yoruba. These are noisemakers of the Arewa, Igbo and Yoruba political elite respectively. Most of them had occupied prominent positions in and around government. Having lost their jobs they formed these groups to make political demands on the system and threaten fire and brimstone unless they are listened to. As soon as they get what they want they pipe down until they are hungry again. Then they schedule another “summit”.

The ACF was formed in July 1999 once it became clear that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was not going to implement the Northern agenda in his second coming as he did in the first. It was a protest against the perceived loss of power by the North. Even now, its pronouncements upholding the activities of Boko Haram is still part of the protest against the loss of power by the North to President Goodluck Jonathan.

These protests are utter rubbish. There is no such thing as loss of power. That a southerner is holding the presidency today is no guarantee that a northerner will not hold it tomorrow. Clearly, these ACF types believe that only the North should hold it. They are not prepared to face the reality of today, which is that the days of sectional domination of Nigeria are over.

In their recent meeting in Kaduna, the ACF came out with a self-contradictory position, which shows that their viewpoints are not guided by patriotic principles.



On the one hand, ACF led by the Chairman, National Executive Committee, Alhaji Mohammed, justified Boko Haram’s ultimatum on southerners to leave the North on the grounds that a group in Delta State was the first to ask northerners to leave. He added that southerners are “free” to leave the North. On the other hand, when asked whether the North now supported the age-old call for a sovereign national conference, he was quoted as saying: “the Forum concluded that the terms of our national union and those by which the Nigerian Federation are run have been well defined in our Constitution”.

In other words: Nigeria must remain one indivisible, indissoluble entity; the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) not Sharia or anything else, is the supreme ruling law. And no part of the country may be ruled apart from as enshrined in the said Constitution (Chapter I Part I Sections 1 to 3, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999).

If you are a genuine believer in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) you will be bound by principle to condemn ANY call for Nigerians to leave any part of Nigeria by any ground no matter devilishly motivated. Even though they have borne a heavy brunt of the Boko Haram madness, no Igbo group has given any ultimatum for the Northerners in the East to leave, and no group ever supported such a call or threatened reprisal. No Yoruba group has done so or supported such a call or threatened reprisal.

Even in Delta State where the ultimatum on the North was issued, nothing happened when the unholy ultimatum expired. Besides, the Governors of Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Abia States have been on record as making public broadcasts assuring northerners in their domains that they are safe. It is not as if only Boko Haram and their pussyfooting supporters have the monopoly of xenophobia. It is just that some people are more civilised than the others when it comes to matters of accommodating fellow Nigerians from other parts. Some cultures endorse xenophobia as an acceptable way of registering resentment, while some others find it barbaric.

Telling southerners they are “free to leave” is a very important thing to say (may be Aliko and his co-travellers did not understand the full weight of their utterances). It simply means ACF cannot guarantee the safety of southerners in the North. It means: go, or take whatever you see. That is not expected from a genuine believer in our Constitution.

If southerners are “free” to leave the North it follows that northerners are also “free” to leave the South. The country will thusly be de-amalgamated. The North will have to raise its revenue and fend for itself as an independent entity governed by the Islamic codes dictated by Boko Haram. The South will also fend for itself with its rich endowments, and governed by a code of democracy agreed by the various constituent nationalities. There are many who actually look forward to such an arrangement since it seems nihilist groups like Boko Haram and their supporters are not interested in a shared federation.

ACF is one of the problems with the North. The float of mind of its rank and file is responsible for Boko Haram’s bloody, revolutionary uprising. ACF is actually one of Boko Haram’s targets on its way to an Islamic republic of Arewa. They are the class of leaders who created the social injustice in the North which rendered the lower classes poor, destitute and now murderously angry. ACF is only trying to suckle up to Boko Haram for the safety of its members and class.

Just like its peers in the South, they are parasites clamouring for attention. No governor, minister or serious politician who wins elections attends their meetings. They don’t even know the interests of the North. So, why bother with them?

Thanks, Fashola for remembering them

WHEN the Ikeja Military Cantonment bombs exploded on January 27th 2001, the whole country shook with grief.  The casualty profile cut across ethnic groups and religions. The tragedy consumed hundreds of Nigerians, both those living in the Barracks and a whole lot more outside, especially children who stampeded to their death in the Oke Afa Canal.

A bumbling President Obasanjo visited the scene and had to be cajoled by the angry crowd of Nigerians before he reluctantly went into the Cantonment to inspect the damage. He promised compensation for the victims, but forgot all about it as soon as he left the scene. Eleven years later, the regime of Mr Babatunde Fashola decided to rub some comforting balm on the nerves of families which lost their loved ones with a token of N250,000 per family.

In more developed countries, vigilant lawyers would slap expensive class lawsuits and punitively extract heavy compensations for the bereaved families. This would make a juicy legal thriller by John Grisham!

After all, it was the federal government and the military’s act of omission and negligence that led to the death of people they were supposed to protect.
What about our numerous human rights lawyers? Don’t make me laugh!


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/02/you-can-go-with-the-oil/

thief

Dr Know:

Because of southern oil

We all know, but you see the adage that say man proposes but God disposes is fact that God has His decision in the schemes of men. Iif Nigeria remains one after 2015, so be it forever but I seek change, Hopefully one day I'll die for it.

this is the type of guy that would stop at nothing to arrange a marriage between his daughter and his business partners just for his own selfish interest. it is only a fool like him that would neva know that nigeria is a failed and arranged marriage. who toled him that their corrupt hands and minds used to stitch a fragmented and disunited nation like nigeria would stop it from eventually disintegrating

Sen. David Mark you and your boss IBB will fight that war alone, As an ex-army what was the caused of Biafra war? The music and drummers are already playing around ( boko haram) etc., we the dancers are waiting and are ready. our khakis are ready too, the so call force unity or married between north and south can no longer work, our eyes are widely opened. You mean that south should continue be killed in the north for the so call unity of Nigeria? How many northerners are killed in the south? Remember you once said when you were minister of communication that telephone is not for the poor but now is poor man are using it? you are hypocrite. What have you done to put a stop to all the crises and killing of southerners’ Christians in the north? Apart from condolences visits u always sent, can that solve or bring the so called unity? I know u are afraid of where Benue shall belong to

"PROPAGANDA"

1 Nigeria noni!!!

Defend and die for selfish reasons. Instead of you thieves to map out a plan on how to save Nigeria you're threatening us with your blood. The blood of those innocent people that have fallen victim to bokoharam and other injustices in this country will hunt you.

Mr mark, not for unity but ur blood will be spilled on the sand when the anti-corruption wind sweeps this nation.

Sometimes I wonder if our clueless, corrupt leaders are fools as we make them out to be. or is it that they are smart and we are the fools. We have stomached their buffoonery and corrption for 50 years without doping anything but yab and complain

Excuses me mr mark David.are you out of ur senses David?listen David mark you can defend the unity of Nigeria yes i know you can do that because you can't afford to lose the 1000 liters of petrol  you usually get per day inclusive the Ghana must go bag thing. danm it David danm it,it's a  high time you all foolish politicians need to apologize to the masses for all the mismanagement.rubbish any of you who occupied any political post the person will start singing one Nigeria, once the honey you are enjoying right now is been removed from ur mouth i will hear you crying around media just as buhari,bakari and co is doing at the moment.

God bless u Major General David Mark.

LOL!!! International thief-thief! Which blood?!

“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity” YOUR BLOOD INDEED!

Remove the Immunity Clause first before you can speak rubbish, Mr Mark.