Former Senate President, David Mark is allegedly making moves to persuade his opponent in the last election withdraw the suit against from court.
Mark of the Peoples Democratic Party and Dan Onjeh of the All Progressives Congress contested the Benue South Senatorial seat in the March 28 National Assembly election.
Mark was declared winner of the election, which his opponent claimed recorded several irregularities.
Mark’s opponent and flagbearer of the APC had approached the court, seeking dissolution of the poll.
Onjeh was subsequently granted permission by the court to inspect the electoral materials and amazingly, in the course of the inspection, it was detected that the number of votes announced in favour of Mark was more than accredited voters.
At the adjournment of the last sitting, the Tribunal granted Onjeh the leave to tender his last document.
However, Mark was expected to appear in person at the court on Monday to defend the election that brought him to power for fifth term.
DAILY POST recalls that while some of his witnesses failed to show up at the court, those who were present disappeared before the hearing.
However, information available showed that Mark had reportedly sent some of his associates to beg Dan to withdraw the petition in order for them to have brotherly chat.
Our reporter gathered that efforts to sit Onjeh down for a one-on-one chat with Mark by his associate had being futile, as the opponent seems to be adamant and was not ready to shift ground.
“Onjeh is not ready to meet with or entertain any offer from Mark and his loyalists. They have tried as much as possible to bring him for a one-on-one meeting with Mark but it did not yield any fruit,” a source said.
When this newspaper contacted Onjeh, he confirmed that some close associates of the former Senate President had being wooing him on his behalf to give up on the case but that he was not ready sell his mandate.
“Like I said earlier, I won the election convincingly and we are on our way to reclaim our stolen mandate. No retreat, no surrender,” Onjeh averred.
However, when DAILY POST contacted an aide to the former Senate President, he laughed off the claim.
“Anybody who thinks Mark will beg Onjeh is dreaming. Beg him for what, that he did not win the election or what? Let them go and check the margin and stop dreaming. Senator Mark is too busy to stoop so low,” the aide who would not want his name in print told our reporter on phone amid serious laughter.
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