By EMMANUEL AZIKEN

HAVING ensconced himself  in the rarefied circles of power in Nigeria in the last twenty-nine years, it was not surprising that Senator David Mark would acknowledge the hand of God in his good fortunes during his 64th birthday church thanksgiving last Sunday.

“I cannot count my blessings over the years. His favours and mercies on me are unquantifiable,” the Senate President told the congregation that came to join him for the birthday mass in his Oturkpo home base.

“I can’t imagine what God has done in my life to see me to where I am today,” Senator Mark reiterated in a seeming admission of his imperfection and rebuttal to suggestions that his ascendancy during the military era was only shaped by his survival instincts in military politics.

Regardless of past perceptions about him- brusque, uncaring, and anti-people- it is a remarkable fact today that Senator Mark has almost successfully recast himself in an image that would shock many of his critics and perhaps handlers in the years of his military adventures.

Senate President, David Mark

Senator Mark has especially taken the platform offered him as President of the Senate to exorcise past impressions of him as an unfeeling officer who would not want the poor to glimpse the liberties of the rich.

As President of the Senate he has denounced the pension thieves who thrive in blood money, made verbal denunciations of the managers of Nigerian football who project personal interest above the collective national goal, and has even attacked the shylocks who continue to profit from the alleged subsidy in the prices of petrol. Even more profoundly, he is believed to have performed some stabilising roles in the unsettled days of the present administration.

In fact, if not for continuing fables about his alleged sprawling wealth and the lingering shadows of his vocal past, he could even have been taken for a rebel in government. But Mark is no rebel; rebels certainly do not last long in government (military or civilian) as Mark has done.

In the first five years after the nation’s return to democracy in 1999, the office of Senate President revolved among five Senators, namely Senators Evan(s) Enwerem, Chuba Okadigbo, Anyim Pius Anyim, Adolphus Wabara and Ken Nnamani.

All things being equal, in two months time Senator Mark would have outlasted the first four Senate Presidents having then clocked five straight years as Senate President.

His longevity in office is itself an irony; legend has it that as an ordinary Senator he was actively involved and sometimes led the insurrections that forced out some of his predecessors.

It was thus not surprising that after he became Senate President there were suggestions that he would stop the practice of serving bananas among other fruits and delicacies taken by Senators in the office of the Senate President after sittings. But some aides were quick to proffer alternatives.

“What we will do is to gather the banana peels and pack them away.” Indeed, Senator Mark, it was learnt, has taken that wisdom practically by putting away the banana peels that fell his predecessors where the matter of money is concerned.

The gist is that unlike some of his predecessors who fell to the greed of disproportionate sharing of allowances, Senator Mark has been careful not to touch Senators’ money. Mischief makers, however, say that he is so rich that he doesn’t need to tamper with Senate funds.

Willy-nilly, Senator Mark has by his actions brought some desired stability to the Senate and eliminated the culture of avarice that so soiled the semblance of the Senate as an institution of graceful men and women.

But then beyond the stability of the Senate is the unresolved question of the Mark persona in contemporary Nigeria. As Senate President he may have used the dais of the Senate chambers and the Senate public hearings to denounce the ills of the society, but formulating lasting enactments that would make profound changes to the culture and system of government is a challenge where this David should make his Mark.