Otukpo (Benue) – Former President of the Senate, David Mark, has urged Nigerians to live in harmony and strive toward building an indivisible nation.
Mark said this in Otukpo, Benue on Friday during a mass celebrated in his compound to mark his 68 birthday.
He said that the crisis between the farmers and herdsmen in Agatu, would not have taken place if there was peace among the people.
“I urge you to preach peace at all times, because that is the only way to encourage good neighbourliness.
“So many of my colleagues from primary school to the military are no more but I am still alive and healthy. God has preserved me.’’
In his homily, the mass celebrant, Rev. Father Sylvester Onmoke, said that human beings were not created to hate one another but to love.
Onmoke, who is the Chaplain, College of Education, Oju, commended the efforts of Mark at bringing back peace in Agatu.
He said that at 68, God was still using the politician to consolidate democracy in the country.
Ezekiel Adaji, a member representing Otukpo/Ohimini Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, said that Mark had touched many lives in positive ways.
He prayed that God would continue to grant him long live to enable him to continue his humanitarian and political works in the state and country.
A former Minister of Internal Affairs, Abba Moro, who described Mark as the leader of Idoma kingdom, said that the former president of the senate had attained an additional year of wisdom.
“By his dedication to God, his hands have been strengthened and it is our belief that the additional year is what the Idomaland and Nigeria can achieve in democracy.
“My prayer for him is that he will continue to soar to make his positive foot prints on the tiles of history of political developments in Nigeria.
“Senator Mark is a donation from Idoma kingdom to Nigeria; he has proved his mettle.
“God has continued to favour him, grant him salvation, and grace as he contributes to Nigeria’s unity.
“We at home in the Benue South Senatorial District are solidly behind him and we will continue to draw inspiration from him, ” Moro said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that food items and household items were donated to orphanage in Otukpo and some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the state as part of activities of the day. (NAN)