Senate President, David Mark and speaker of the House Rep Dimeji Bankole

By Kenneth  EHIGIATOR
Few days after the nation was shocked by the rumpus   in the  the House of Representatives the speaker of the House is involved in another dispute with  the Senate President, David Mark . Bankole had alleged that copies of the amended constitution    sent to State Houses of Assembly by the Senate was the doctored one, distinct from the harmonised document arrived at by both chambers of the National Assembly.

However, in his reaction to Mark, Bankole said yesterday that he would not join issues with Senate President, David Mark over the amended 1999 Constitution, which he ordered withdrawn from State Houses of Assembly.

“There is no need for anyone to go to the media asking the clerk of the National Assembly to withdraw what was sent to the Houses of Assembly.  Anyone going about saying that they should withdraw the document is certainly wrong and nothing will be withdrawn.  This is the height of mischief,” Mark had said at the opening of the senate’s plenary Thursday.

But speaking in an interview with newsmen at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos yesterday, Bankole said he was not out to join issues with the senate president, adding that he (Mark) was a father figure to him.

He also assured that withdrawal of the amended constitution to make way for the harmonised one would not jeopardise the 2011 general elections. According to him, there is more than enough time to do the right thing and still meet up with the election target.

He said:  “I don’t think the withdrawal will affect the election.  In any case, Senator David Mark is the president of the senate.  He is a father to me and I never join issues with my superiors.”

Bankole, whose arrival at the airport was heralded by heavy security beef-up, tactically avoided questions on the row between him and 11 suspended members of the House who accused him of mismanaging N9 billion. He simply smiled, shook his head, made straight for his official vehicle and was driven away from the airport.