The Nigerian Senate President David Mark yesterday escaped an attack by gunmen in Orlu area of Imo State, South-East Nigeria.

Reports say the gunmen specifically targeted the vehicle which the Senate President was expected to enter.

The Senate President, who had just returned from Switzerland where he attended the International Parliamentary Union, was on his way to the burial ceremony of late business mogul, Sir John Richard Anyaehie in Nkwerre Community in Imo State.

No life was lost in the attack.

Mark in a statement issued yesterday evening in Abuja by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, lamented that the attack happened a moment when a great philanthropist like Anyaehie was being buried, adding that it was not what should be expected in a senatorial district like Orlu.

He described late Anyaehie as a truthful man and good adviser, from whom he benefited as a young military Major in Port Harcourt, saying his first encounter with the deceased was the greatest in his life.

Mark advised Nigerians to always prepare for their death by being humble and godly like the late Anyaehie, noting that the deceased united people of Nkwerre, Orlu Senatorial Zone and Imo State at large.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State described the late Anyaehie as one of the few but truthful and godly billionaires ever produced in Igboland, whose life was a lesson to all men.

Okorocha said death must come when it would and that what remained most important in life was the things people must be remembered for.

While praying for his death to bring peace in Nigeria, he called for the practice of selfishness to stop, as according to him, life is meaningless if others cannot benefit from people’s wealth.

In his sermon, the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Orlu, Rt. Rev. Benneth Okoro warned Christians not to die in sin as that could be very dangerous after death.

He advised politicians equipping youths to terrorise the society to endeavour to withdraw the weapons, stressing that it was only the good one did on earth that would speak for him on his last day.

The bishop cautioned against primitive acquisition of wealth, saying, however, that being wealthy was not sin but being proud and using same to oppress people was sinful before God.

Okoro described the late Anyaehie as a cathedral builder and a man who believed in the sovereignty of God in all things and astute businessman.

According to him, the deceased built the magnificent Cathedral of SS John and Peter, Nkwerre at the cost of over N1 billion in 1993 as well as other churches in the area after God healed him from a deadly ill health.

The bishop said Anyaehie was a great philanthropist who empowered thousands of people across the country to the extent that his driver tried to lay down his life for him when armed robbers attacked, thereby converting the criminals to change their lives.

•Pieced together from reports in Channels and Vanguard. Photo shows Senate President David Mark.

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