David Mark @ 75 and reappraisal of my perspectives…, By Sufuyan Ojeifo

David Alechenu Bonaventure Mark, retired brigadier general, former military administrator, former minister, and former senate president -the trajectory is quite phenomenal- is 75 years old today.

Ordinarily, there should be pomp and ceremony, but one is not sure David Mark will go that route. It will be anthitetical to some recent and current events, to wit: the passing of his first son, Chief Tunde Mark at 51, late last year, and the current state of the nation. The question then is likely to be: why make noise, when one can quietly embark on an obligatory thanksgiving to the Almighty God for the gift of life?

As I wrote last year, “David Mark significantly presents avant-garde perspectives to writers who indulge in the enterprise of questioning and contextualizing the essence(s) or quintessence(s) of grandees.”

The assertion supra and those infra are, in this celebratory piece, subjected to a reappraisal, of sorts, to ascertain the constancy or consistency of perceptions, perspectives, and validations. I will give a verdict at the end of this tribute.

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But as I posited last year, “For writers, it is an enterprise in which the subject matter becomes a captive of their imagination, and they are at liberty to either build or dismantle primordial prejudices; or to somewhat deconstruct or even reconstruct the persona of the subject through editorial interrogation.”

In my tribute last year on the occasion of his 74th birthday, I had made a silhouette, something close to Mr Lely’s portraiture of Oliver Cromwell, a politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history.

It is, therefore, my essential perception, add to it perspectives and validations, that I am reappraising today in celebration of David Mark. It is important to state this from the outset to provide a contextual understanding of this enterprise, lest many think the enterprise amounts to mere regurgitation of views once expressed about the celebrator.

Having clearly explicated my raison d’etre, I restate that perceptions, therefore, akways assume free reins about personalities, and that is the tragedy, so to speak, of grandees. They are subjected to the whims of characterizations that most times encapsulate both the sublime and the outlandish; the profound and the jejune; the profane and the sacred, just any thing and every thing as long as it provides new and experimental contexts.

Read my summation as established last year: Inevitably, Mark is on the occasion of his natal day a captive of this obligatory enterprise, which many crave and which many others loathe. There is always the existential fear about the possible boomerang effects or unintended consequences of media exposures. The fear is real and grisly.

Yet, it could be salutary, somewhat, for introspective self-assessment of how well one has fared whether rightly or wrongly in the eyes of the community and in the realm of public perception, especially for those in public offices and those who have taken their places in the pantheon of all-time greats, who must, in any case, be taken through the critical appraisal indices. It is in this context that the essential David Mark cannot escape essential consideration.

Mark means different things to different people. To some, he remains a gentleman officer even in retirement; to others, he is an astute politician and strategist with a rare legerdemain; some more see him as a benefactor with capacity for cornucopian eleemosynary acts while some relate to his persona as a passionate golfer.

Those are not all to the varied perspectives. To boot, some see him as a great aficionado of the Catholic faith, while others see the part of him that warmly embraces tradition. They validate this with his acceptance of the traditional title of Okpokpowulu K’Idoma (transliterated as the leader of war or the bulldozer of Idoma) from the Och’Idoma IV of Idomaland, in 2009 or thereabout, in recognition of his numerous contributions to the development of Idoma land.

Permit me to, at this intersection, reflect a simple event and/or an encounter that continues to define my perspective of this influential politician, a man whose entirety evokes, at once, multiple perspectives by admirers and traducers alike. I could have adapted the summative one-liner of the French philosopher, Rene Descartes’ “cogito ergo sum” meaning “I think therefore I am” when he was asked who man is, to answer the question as to who David Mark is.

I am consensus ad idem with the adumbrated characterizations supra as much as I am on all fours with those elucidated infra. I could settle for one of the perspectives in a quick riposte. But on the occasion of his 75th birthday, there is nothing more to hold back excepting if one decides to do just that.

Therefore, to answer the question, I would say that Mark is a fitting exemplifier or embodiment of all the perspectives here and elsewhere, which makes him a quite remarkable exemplar. Given my significant encounter with him, he is simply quintessential! I take the opportunity of his 75th birthday, just as I had done in the past, to celebrate a man who chose, at a critical intersection in my coverage of the Senate as THISDAY politics editor in Abuja, to bring me close to him by force of appreciation of my “intellectual capital”.

My reportage of the politicking for the race for the senate presidency in 2007 had been misconstrued as opposition to Mark’s senate presidency and that disposition had preponderated “reportorial interactions” with his media office until 2009 when Mark turned 61. The then Deputy Editor of THISDAY on Sunday, Mr Collins Edomaruse, had asked me to do a tribute on him (Mark) about the close of production on Friday night, which I did under 40 minutes.

I did not even take time to proofread the piece for errors. I pressed the “send” key on my computer. It was after the piece entitled: “Pomp, as Mark Turns 61 in the Saddle” was published in The Gavel-to-Gavel page that I read through and felt I had done a pretty good job. I later realised I had done a magnum opus on Mark when the then deputy minority leader, Senator Mohammed Mana from Adamawa state, called to commend me for what he called “a beautiful and brilliant piece.”

I had to go back to read through myself. By Thursday of that week, I got a message through an AIT cameraman that the senate president said he would like to see me. I went to see him in the office in company with his Chief of Staff and his Special Adviser Media. Mark said to me that he read through my piece and decided to call to commend me for it.

It was a particularly fulfilling encounter for me. The kind words were soothing. If I remember vividly, he said: “You are a brilliant writer. You are not like some journalists who write sentences without verbs. I read you always in THISDAY and I agree with many of the issues you have interrogated except for one or two, which we will discuss later.” We never got to discuss them, though.

That was how we struck a relationship that has endured so far. When I was redeployed by THISDAY from Senate to assume a new position as State House Bureau Chief, I had the privilege of being hosted to a dinner at the Apo Mansion, the official quarters of the senate president. Since then, he has not broken the line of communication between us. Given my kind of person, who does not like causing irritations to my influential friends (and, so in trying to keep fidelity to that attitude, I maintain minimal, dignifying contacts with them). Therefore, any time I decide to get in touch, he always jokingly charges me with having “abandoned” him.

That, for me, is the essence of the intercourse between greatness and humility. Mark is a great man. He is also a humble man, regardless of his visage and poise, contoured by his disciplined military background, which tend to be misconstrued for meanness and arrogance. Regardless, Mark remains one of the most influential politicians around. He has earned that badge for which history will not forget him, and posterity will judge him positively. This remains my verdict. It is a message of reappraisal of my perceptions and perspectives of who he is in his life and times that he gets today, as he clocks 75. The verdict is constant, consistent with the previous, original act.

As I did last year, I round off with Edward J. Stieglitz, an author and doctor, who once rationalized thus: “And in the end, it is not the years in your life that count; it is the life in your years.” As a medical doctor, Stieglitz understands what he was talking about-having a bubbly life. But as I wish the quintessential David A.B. Mark many happy returns in long life and good health, I sincerely pray that the Almighty God will continue to bless both the years in his life and the life in his years. Happy birthday, Sir!

▪ Mr Ojeifo contributed this tribute from Abuja via ojwonderngr@yahoo.com