Entwistle to provide Dogara with video evidence of reps’ ‘sexual misconduct’

James Entwistle, the United States ambassador to Nigeria, will meet Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the federal house of representatives on Thursday, to provide video evidence of his allegation of sexual misconduct against three legislators.

On June 16, it was revealed that Entwistle had written the lower chamber to accuse three members — Samuel Ikon (PDP Akwa Ibom), Mohammed Gololo (APC Bauchi) and Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue) — of seeking the services of sex workers while they were attending a programme in the US.

The letter from Entwistle, obtained by New Telegraph, reads: “It is with regret that I must bring to your attention the following situation. Ten members of the Nigerian national assembly recently travelled to Cleveland, Ohio as participants in the International Visitor Leadership Programme on good governance.

“We received troubling allegations regarding the behaviour of three members of the delegation to the U.S. Government’s flagship professional exchange programme.‎

“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 sex.

“While the housekeeper reported this to her 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.

“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.

“While the majority of Nigerian visitors to the United States do behave appropriately, even a few Nigerians demonstrating poor judgement leads to a poor impression of the Nigerian people generally, though it is far from accurate. Such incidents jeopardise the ability of future programming and make host institutions and organisations less likely to welcome similar visits in the future.

“I request, in the strongest possible terms, you share this message with members of the National Assembly so they understand the seriousness of these issues, and the potential consequences of their actions, not only for themselves as individuals, but also for the future of such programmes designed to benefit Nigeria.”

Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesman of the house, responded by saying an investigation had been opened into the matter.

“We are in receipt of a letter from the US ambassador, alleging misconduct by some members of the national assembly, who attended a training programme in the United States of America,” he had said.

‎“The leadership of the house has commenced its own part of the investigation. When it is concluded, we will brief Nigerians further on this issue.”‎

Dogara then called for caution on the matter, saying there was yet no evidence against the three members.

“Judgment can only be passed when an allegation is proven,” he said, vowing that “together with the US Embassy in Nigeria, we will get to the bottom of this matter”.

Mark Gbillah, one of the named reps, subsequently wrote to the ambassador to protest the allegations, demanding the “full video/CCTV footage covering the period of their entire stay at the hotel, saying “this should clearly show the movements and activities of every member of the group throughout the hotel”.

On Thursday, when the investigative public hearing on the scandal begins, Entwistle is expected to provide video clips of the incident.

However, Nicholas Ossai (PDP-Delta), chairman of the house committee on ethics and privileges,told NAN that the committee did not invite management of the hotel where the alleged misconduct occurred.

“We decided not to extend invitation to the hotel management since the ambassador, who broke the information through a letter to the speaker, has documentary evidence against the three lawmakers,” he said.

He revealed that the committee had also invited Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs; as well as and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and National Human Rights Commission.

He said that the committee did not carry out any secret investigation, and urged anyone with useful information to submit it to the committee on or before commencement of the hearing.

“The standard in the US is that an accused is assumed innocent until proven guilty and that is the same standard in Nigeria. Anyone who has evidence can now see the committee” Ossai said.