Senate President's Media Office Calls Out Daily Trust Newspaper For Misquoting The President Of The Senate On 2015 Elections.

The Media Assistant to the Senate President Mr Paul Mumeh has reacted to a false publication by the DailyTrust Newspaper where The SP was quoted to have said 2015 elections is not on the table.
His release came to news desk this evening,Read the Press Release below.


Our attention has been drawn to the lead story of the Daily Trust of Wednesday, September 17, 2014, where in the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark was quoted to have said 2015 Elections not on the table.

For the avoidance of doubts, the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark made the following remarks in closing the Senate Debate on the motion titled; Threat to the National Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity of Nigeria by Insurgents. He said: "At this stage, all of us are involved whether you are in uniform or out of uniform and we have to find a solution to it ( Boko Haram).

We should back the military, mobilize as much as we can and bring all our war resources and efforts together so that we can prosecute this war. There is no way in which we can say that this (Boko Haram) is exclusively for one section of the country. "Unfortunately, we are not satisfied with the way the war has been prosecuted so far. We want a better strategy and precise statement that will give direction on how we are going to prosecute this war and end it as quickly as possible. It is not a question of election because election is not even on the table now.""I would want us in the process of looking at the prayers (of the motion) take those that will assist us to prosecute this war.

I agree with all of you that we are in the state of war and what is happening now is a challenge even to our legitimacy in this chamber".From the foregoing, it is clear that Senator Mark did NOT call and will NEVER call for the postponement of the 2015 general elections. Rather, he has emphasized the danger which Boko Haram portends to our nation and only explained that the issue before the Senate now was not election matters but how to end the Boko Haram war against Nigerians.Senator Mark's position, which is unequivocal, is that we must as a people stand together to fight Boko Haram and return our nation to the path of peace and unity.It is curious and strange that among the arrays of national newspapers, only Turaki A. Hassan of the Daily Trust manufactured his own story to suit the whims and caprices of his masters. We challenge Turaki to produce the verbatim recording of the remarks he ascribed to Senator Mark.It is imperative to make this clarification before readers take away erroneous impression which this reporter has created.

Paul Mumeh
Media Adviser to SP.