Former Senate President, David Mark, has said that he is too old to contest in the 2023 presidential election, ending speculations that he may be considering another attempt at the presidency in the next general elections.
The 73-year-old said this on Monday while speaking as a special guest during the commissioning of the Odufor, Akpoku, Umuoye Road at Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Mark recalled how he thought his close relationship with Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, could earn him the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket when Rivers hosted the 2019 presidential congress of the party.
He said, “I remember very vividly our last presidential congress here when we didn’t have any other place to go. No governor volunteered. It was your governor (Wike) who stood up to say ‘I will take the congress in Port Harcourt,’ and that was how we came here.
I was very hopeful that time [that I would get the ticket], because I am very close to the governor, but it didn’t work out. Now I am too old to run for presidency, I am just resting in my village now.”
Mark, who spent 20 years as a federal lawmaker, had in 2018 visited past leaders including former military Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida and former president Goodluck Jonathan, among others, to solicit for their support ahead of the 2019 election, but his attempt at the presidency failed.
Back in 2018, he made an ambitious promise of transforming the country’s economy in two years and ending insecurity in the country.
Mark had said, “I am the bridge Nigeria needs now. I will be the bridge between the North and South and between the old and young. I will be with you and serve the nation diligently. I will be there for you. I will not let you down. I will be the last man standing.”