The United States government has raised serious
allegations of sexual misconduct and attempted rape against Nigerian lawmakers.
The U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle,
made the allegation in a letter sent to the Speaker of House of Representatives,
Yakubu Dogara, on June 9.
The accused members are
Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa
Ibom), Mohammed Gololo (APC, Bauchi) and Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue).
The petition says they attempted to commit rape,
and solicited sex from prostitutes during their recent trip to Cleveland,
United States, for the International Visitor Leadership Program.
In the petition, obtained by New Telegraph, Mr.
Gololo was reported by a hotel house keeper to have grabbed her and sought sex.
Messrs Ikon and Gbillah, allegedly, sought the
assistance of hotel park attendants to help them get prostitutes.
Mr. Dogara’s spokesperson, Turaki Hassan, confirmed
the Speaker received the petition to PREMIUM TIMES.
The petition read, “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,” Mr. Entwistle
wrote.
The accused lawmakers
denied the allegations.
“It’s an affront on the National
Assembly” – Gbillah
Mr. Gbillah, who was
accused of soliciting prostitutes alongside Mr. Ikon, said the allegation was a
calculated attempt at rubbishing the National Assembly and vowed to demand
compensation from the U.S. for defamation of character.
He explained that that they
did not speak to park attendants, basing his argument on the ground that they
did not go with cars, and asking, “So how could we have spoken with attendant.”
“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?”
“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?”
He said the affected
lawmakers had challenged the U.S. government, demanding footage of their stay
in the hotel and that they should be provided access to their accusers for
identification.
Mr. Gololo, in a letter to
the American envoy on June 13, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, said “these are
totally false, unfounded and baseless allegations against me. I categorically
deny that any such incident happened. I never grabbed any housekeeper or
solicited sex”.
“I also take this matter
very seriously not only because I am an honourable member representing a
hallowed institution but because I am husband and father. How will my family
and in-laws react to this wild and grave allegation.”
He demanded “video or any
such evidence of my alleged misbehaviour.”
Nkole Ndukwe, another
lawmaker who was on the trip, expressed shock at the allegation and asked for
substantiation from the U.S.
The United States Embassy
in Nigeria declined comment on this story
...premiumtimes
No comments:
Post a Comment