David Mark was not going to succeed as Mark was said to have made frantic efforts to ensure that many of his colleagues returned in 2015 but was not successful.
Some of the senators that lost their re-election bid had blamed their woes on the Senate President, claiming that he did not do much to protect them when the party structures were handed over to the state governors by the National Working Committee, NWC, of PDP.
But a senator close to the Senate President said that Mark did all he could, including going to some of the state governors to plead for his colleagues to be given the tickets to return which the governors rejected.
The senator said it was unfair for any senator that failed to clinch the ticket to now put the blame on the Senate President, who he said, did much to protect his colleagues.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the senator said, “some of the senators who may be up-in-arms against the Senate President are not being fair to him.
“If those who are angry for failing to survive at the primaries are truthful to themselves, they should also disclose how the Senate President took time off preparation for his own primary election to plead the cases of most of the senators both at the PDP headquarters and at The Presidency.
“It is on record that the Senate President personally led some of the interventionists meetings held both at the party level and at the Presidency.
“It is also on record that the Senate President spoke to most of the PDP governors to accommodate the senators in their states at the primaries.
He said though the reach of the Senate President was wide, “the Senate President did not just sit idly by without mounting the necessary lobby for the return of most senators.”
He specifically explained that in the case of a particular senator from South South, “the Senate President took him to the party headquarters, the Senate President also took him to The Presidency and spoke several times with his governor and even sent a close friend of the governor to plead with him to allow the senator to return, but his governor was adamant in giving his seat to another person.”
Besides, he stated that in some cases, the Senate President was holding meetings with some of the governors to persuade them, but most of them maintained hard position over the matter.
He noted that in the case of another senator from the South East, “the Senate President took steps to ensure his return in 2015, but he insisted on going ahead with his governorship ambition even when it was obvious that the coast may not be clear for him.”
The source also cited the case of another senator from Bayelsa State whose case Mark took to The Presidency and to the party headquarters.
“It is not fair for some people to attempt to make anybody scape-goat in this matter. If anything, anybody who is aggrieved over the conduct of the PDP primaries should take their fight to their governors.”
He said that it was clear for the majority of the senators that the Senate President did his best for his colleagues and was still making efforts to see the possibility of having more senators pick the party’s tickets.
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