Perhaps, he can! His political pedigree favours the mission. However, will his colleagues allow him? That is a question I cannot answer, because I am not and I cannot be one of them! The house in demand is the new political party: African Democratic Congress (ADC), a coalition of political enthusiasts from dying and already dead political parties, except one that is still breathing, the All Progressives Congress. 

ADC has detonated no enthusiasm in Nigerians since it came on board. Why? It is a parade of wobbling legs, comprising yesterday’s men and women. Most of them contributed to the paralytic condition we are in today as a nation. Comparative silence greeted the news of its formation. Then Mark spoke. He stirred the pool and created ripples. His speech, short and pungent, gave insight as to what we should expect. He says ADC’s mission is to construct a platform that would give a voice to the voiceless in Nigeria’s political spectacle. What a tall ambition! How can the voiceless fit into a political construct that is already filled with silencers?

Mark’s speech gave hints of the errand of ADC. But who is David Mark? A lot of Nigerians only know Mark as a retired general who, while in active service, was involved in military coups from the 1970s till he brought the late General Sani Abacha to the throne in the 90s. 

Many may know but have chosen, for the sake of convenience and cheap popularity, to ignore the patriot in him. It was Mark, who, at the risk of being killed, confronted the much-dreaded General Abacha who, after seizing power from Chief Ernest Shonekan, refused to honour the rules of engagement regarding the June 12 presidential election.

After confronting Abacha one fateful morning, questioning him on the agreement they had about June 12, Mark knew from experience that if he had to live to tell the story another day, then he needed to execute a Plan B. He did.

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Just before evening arrived, as pre-determined, Mark was picked up by a strange fellow for a game of golf. It was indeed an extraordinary game of golf, which, a few hours later, saw him along the Ghanaian border with Nigeria. That day, the moment Mark left home for the so-called game of golf, which he is known for, some unknown soldiers arrived at his official quarters and changed the guards. It was a sign of what to follow next.

They needed to put on guard loyalists who would open the gates and the doors from inside when they returned at midnight. However, they probably forgot that Mark had been in the Signals Corps since he joined the military. 

Every communication among those appointed to deal with him was monitored. As he received a signal, he moved before anyone could reach him. Even his orderly was left at home when he went to the golf course. 

He was always several steps ahead of his enemies. While they were sharpening their knives and dusting their night goggles for the bloody assignment, the war veteran had crossed the border.

Hours later, as soon as darkness set in and Mark was already in Ghana, waiting for a midnight flight to the UK, some mysterious “armed robbers” visited his home.

They shredded the place with bullets when they could not see him to eliminate him.

That is the side of Mark’s history that many Nigerians hardly know about. Those who know have chosen to ignore it. One day, pretty soon, that story would be told in full. Mark was in exile until Abacha died.

How can we so urgently forget the Doctrine of Necessity that rescued Nigeria from a return to military rule under Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration? It was a political ingenuity that took the nation by surprise. For some of us who were privy to certain information at that time, it took such an innovative political master stroke for our young democracy to circumvent the constitutional impasse and survive the impending doom.

It is the same David Mark who has declared that ADC is a shared mission invented to rescue Nigeria and further enhance democracy. He actually made one statement that thrilled me. Here it is: “Let it be known to all, that this coalition of national political opposition groups goes beyond gaining political power. It is a concerted effort to rebuild the crumbling pillars of Nigeria’s democracy.”

Mark was saying in effect that the first focus of the new party is not to gain political power, but to build an opposition that would halt the current hijack and collapse of all democratic institutions into one political party, an action that is sending Nigeria “on a creeping descent into total civilian dictatorship.” 

It is Mark’s decision to stop what he calls total state capture by the APC through “blatant destabilisation and infiltration of all major opposition political parties.” He accused the APC government of being so concerned about the next election “rather than the survival of the ordinary Nigerians”.

A lot of people are likely to agree with him on this because, as he noted, the government is “so totally consumed with politicking that governance is abandoned, while the majority of our people wallow in hunger and poverty”.

Aside from the widespread insecurity across the country, he noted the “total emasculation of the legislative institution” and that Nigeria has never witnessed a National Assembly reduced to mere “cheerleaders and praise singers” of the executive arm.

He appealed: “This coalition is therefore for all Nigerians who share in our belief that all of us, the young and the old, man and woman, rich and poor, living with disabilities or not, town dwellers or villagers, have the patriotic duty to save our country.”

The ADC leader declared in no uncertain terms: “To all suffering Nigerians who are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet; for whom the next meal is not guaranteed, this coalition is for you.”

To all the citizens who believe that Nigeria’s democracy is worth fighting and dying for, and the youth who daily face a future full of uncertainty and have often questioned the value of their education and their certificates, he declared, “this coalition is for you”.

Then, to all those who dwell in terror-torn sections of Nigeria, all the people from the north, the south, the east and the west who live under constant fear of violence and terror, and those who have lost their fathers, mothers, children, husbands, and wives, he thundered, “this coalition is for you”.

He addressed all citizens who believe that they deserve better, citizens who have been promised much and given so little or nothing, “for whom renewed hope has turned to renewed hopelessness, this is your coalition,” and a “historic rescue mission.” 

Then Mark repeated that special line in his speech: “We commit ourselves to building and transforming (ADC) into a strong political party, not merely as another electoral vehicle but as a fortress and platform of our revived democracy. It will be the harbinger of democracy where members of the party will reign supreme. A party that obeys its rules and constitution in the best democratic traditions. A party of equal stakeholders, equal joiners and equal owners.”

His dream is to build the party that will become a “great house into which all patriots are invited. A party that recognises the experience of the old and the energy of the youths. To all Nigerians, we say here is the new big tent into which all patriots are invited.”

Mark described ADC as “a path of unity over division, service over slogans, action over excuses, compassion over inhumanity, transparency over opacity, inclusion over nepotism, real progress over endless rhetoric, performance over empty promises, rule of law over impunity, and, justice over inequity.” 

For the third time, he repeated: “Our mission transcends any electoral calendar. It is a commitment to rebuild the guardrails of our democracy, to anchor power once again in the will of the people, and to hand to our children a nation worthy of their talents and their dreams.”

Perhaps, stakeholders can trust Mark to build ADC into a functional opposition party, and not just a power-seeking machine. That is what Nigeria needs now—a voice that will call the ruling party to order because democracy without opposition is a movement in self-destruction.

. Akpe, a journalist, writes from Abuja.

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