The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, has petitioned the
Speaker of the House of Reps, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, accusing some members of
the lower chamber of improper conduct, attempted r*pe and soliciting for prosti-
tutes while on official trip to the US.
But, the affected lawmakers have denied all the allegations and threatened to
sue the ambassador and the US government for “character defamation and a
calculated attempt to ridicule the National Assembly.”
The Ambassador, in a letter dated June 9, 2016, addressed to Speaker Dogara,
alleged that three members of the House namely: Hon. Mohammed Garba
Gololo (APC, Bauchi), Hon. Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Hon. Mark
Gbillah (APC, Benue) had, on a recent visit to the United States for the
International Visitor Leadership Program, brought disrepute to the parliament by
soliciting for s*x from prostitutes and grabbing hotel housekeeper in a bid to
r*pe.
Ten lawmakers were invited by the US government for the International Visitor
Leadership Program held on April 7 to 13, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.
They include: Gaza Jonathan Gbefwi (PDPNasarawa State), Danburam
Abubakar Nuhu (APC-Kano State), Nkole Uko Ndukwe (PDP-Abia State), Rita
Orji (PDPLagos State), Ayo Huliyat Omidiran (APC-Osun).
Part of Entwistle’s letter reads: “It is with regret that I must bring to your
attention the following situation. The U.S. Department of State and the
Cleveland Council on World Affairs received reports from employees of the
Cleveland hotel where the representatives stayed, alleging the representatives
engaged in the following behaviour: “Mohammed Garba Gololo allegedly grabbed
a housekeeper in his hotel room and solicited her for s*x .
"While the housekeeper reported this to her hotel management, this incident
could have involved local law enforcement and resulted in legal consequences
for Representative Gololo.
“Mark Terseer Gbillah and Samuel Ikon allegedly requested hotel parking
attendants assist them to solicit prostitutes.”
Entwistle said the US government made efforts to authenticate these
allegations. His words: “The U.S. Mission took pains to confirm these
allegations and the identities of the individuals with the employees of the hotel
in Cleveland.
The conduct described above left a very negative impression of Nigeria, casting
a shadow on Nigeria’s National Assembly, the International Visitor Leadership
Program, and to the American hosts’ impression of Nigeria as a whole.
“Such conduct could affect some participants’ ability to travel to the United
States in the future.”
REACTIONS...
But Gbillah said that there was no iota of truth in what the ambassador said,
describing it as a calculated attempt to cause disaffection between them and
their wives, families and constituents as they were not given any fair hearing
before the letter was sent to the speaker.
He said he was on the trip with his wife and baby and could not, in any way,
solicit for s*x from a prosti-tute. He said: “This is an affront on the National
Assembly and Nigeria, it appears they have ulterior motives. We are not going
to take this lightly; we will take legal actions against the US government. It is a
dent on our image.”
According to New Telegraph, while narrating the story of their stay in US,
Gbillah said:
“I went on the trip with my wife and baby and insisted that she stayed with me,
but they told me the accommodation was meant for only participants . So, at
Cleveland Renaissance where we were, opposite the Quicken Loan Arena, the
Cleveland Cavalier Basketball team played a match and many people came to
lodge at the same hotel, and they claimed that we spoke with car park
attendants.
"We didn’t go with cars, so how could we have spoken with attendants?” He
explained that the first time he heard about the allegations was a month after
they returned from the US and went to represent the speaker at the farewell
dinner for the Chinese ambassador.
“...I saw the ambassador (Entwistle) and went to greet him and he told me how
a few of us tarnished the image of the House. I advised him to make it formal
so that we can know who was involved and what actually happened.
“It was after this encounter that they called us to their premises and said they
were identified by their accusers in a group picture. This is curious. No video
footage. They didn’t accost us while we were in US. We suspect this is a
calculated attempt to rubbish the National Assembly.
“Is this how they would have investigated their congressmen? Do they know
that there were other black people who came to watch the match? How could
they have identified us in a picture without our knowledge?
“We, the concerned members, have written to the speaker indicating the facts
and demanding footage of our stay in the hotel. We also want them to provide
access to our accusers to identify us. But most importantly, we would be
demanding compensation from the US government for defamation of character.”
Also, in his letter to the speaker, dated June 13, Gololo, who was accused of
grabbing a housekeeper, said: “Let me, from the outset, express my shock and
dismay at the contents of the letter generally and particularly affects me.
“These are totally false, unfounded and baseless allegations against me. I
categorically deny any such incident happened, I never grabbed any housekeeper
nor did I solicit for sex. I also take this issue very seriously not only because I
am a honourable member representing a hallowed institution, but because of my
integrity as a husband and father.
"How would my family and in-laws react to these wild and grave allegations? I
demand an apology and retraction of these allegations or I shall not hesitate to
engage the services of lawyers and not only to clear my name, but to seek
redress for the damages done to my reputation. I insist that evidence of the
allegations against me be produced...
“It is, therefore, in the interest of both countries to investigate this matter
thoroughly to get to the root of it and I am ready to go back to Cleveland at my
expense to establish my innocence without prejudice to my rights, press charges
against libellous allegations”
Another lawmaker who was not involved said: “I cannot believe this. Something
must be wrong somewhere. We were all in the same hotel and this same man
(Gololo) was there as well. He has all the capacity to get a woman in the city if
he wanted to, but he is somebody we all know loves his wife and family so
much.
"The lady did not even mention names, we learnt she only pointed at the man in
the group photograph we took during the programme. Again, this issue was
reported two weeks after we left the hotel. Why was this not done while we
were there?
"The lady in question did not shout immediately and one wonders if truly there
was such thing. We did not know anything until the letter written to the
Speaker went round all of us who were in Cleveland for the meeting. It is
shocking.”
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