Mark, Buhari meet in Abuja

David Mark, president of the Nigerian senate, visited Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president-elect, in Abuja on Thursday.

This is the first time that Mark would be seen with Buhari since the septuagenarian’s emergence as winner of the 2015 presidential election.

Mark toured the length and breadth of the country with President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the electioneering campaign, and recently criticised those who defected from PDP as a result of the party’s poor performance at the polls.

Describing them as “fair-weather friends”, the outgoing senate president said he would not leave the PDP even if that was the only condition for retaining his seat at the hallowed chamber.

“I have heard, by way of rumour, to start with, in social media that I am decamping to APC,” he said at St. Mulumba Catholic Chaplaincy in Abuja during a mass service in honour of his 67th birthday.

“Social media is awash with that. If I will be the last man standing, I will remain in PDP. The rumour is just an unnecessary fabrication.

“Nobody has spoken to me from APC. I have no reason whatsoever to leave PDP, no reasons. I have risen to where I am on the platform of PDP. PDP has a manifesto and I believe in it.

“Those drifting to the APC now are fair-weather friends of the PDP. They are seeking new green areas. When the PDP bounces back, they will seek another return to the PDP.”