Three members of the House of Representatives, namely “Mark Terseer Gbillah [Benue] and Samuel Ikon [Akwa Ibom] and Mohammed Garba Gololo are currently being investigated over an alleged sexual misconduct they committed in the United States while attending a leadership training programme.
Speaker of the House Mr. Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday directed the investigation of three members following an allegation by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, via a letter he wrote to the Speaker. The Ambassador had in the said letter chronicled series of alleged sexual misconduct by the trio in their hotel in US.
The development follows the US’ formal withdrawal of its visas from the three lawmakers.
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, confirmed the development.
“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,” Namadas said.
Full text of the complaint by Mr. James Entwistle, US Ambassador to Nigeria:
“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 judgment 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.
“In addition, most of the members of this group reacted very negatively to my deputy when she brought this matter to their attention, further calling into question their judgment and commitment to the goals of the International Visitor Leadership Programme.
“This leads us to question whether to include National Assembly members for other similar programmes 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.”
Sources close to the Speaker said he was pained by the allegations and has directed the investigating committee to be thorough in its assignment.
