Tag: Sex scandal

Former United States Ambassador to Nigeria James Entwistle has no evidence of alleged sexual misconduct against three House of Representatives members, Minister of Foreign Relations Geoffrey Onyeama said yesterday.

He said the U.S. government did not press charges  and would not because, according to him the ambassador told him the housekeeper, who claimed she was “grabbed” by one of the lawmakers, refused to testify.

Onyeama, who spoke before the joint committee of Ethics and Privileges yesterday, said the allegation was based on a weak foundation, “defamatory and could lead to legal consequences”.

Mohammed Garba Gololo (APC, Bauchi), Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue), who were part of 10 legislators invited by the U.S. government for the International Visitor Leadership Programme between April 7 and 13  in Cleveland, Ohio, were accused of sexual misconduct.

Enyeama said in his interaction with the former ambassador, “he did not present any corroborative evidence and did not give the impression that there was any.

“He did not make any allegations against the members, he was just saying allegations were made and he confirmed they were made.”

The minister said there were no testimonies. “The house keeper ( who claimed a member grabbed her in the hotel) refused to testify further.” Entwistle, he said was surprised the housekeeper refused to testify.

“I was surprised the main complainant failed to testify when approached by her government,” Enyeama added.

He said the allegation “does not constitute guilt,” but that Entwistle felt an obligation to bring it to the attention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. “He’s not saying they are true or not.”

But members of the committee wanted to know why visas of the members accused were cancelled, if they were not adjudged guilty.

“We don’t know the workings of the U.S. government The U.S. has discretion on its visa . It doesn’t have to give any reason why it must have taken any step,” the minister said.

He, however, gave an insight on what may have caused the visa cancellations and three years’ travel ban on the lawmakers, saying there was a meeting in the United States Embassy in Abuja prior to the letter by the former ambassador

“A group (of lawmakers) went to the U.S. Embassy and it was an acrimonious meeting. The deputy ambassador was spoken to in an aggressive manner and voices were raised and the group walked out. The incident would not have encouraged a sympathetic approach.”

But the affected lawmakers said at the meeting with the Deputy Chief of Mission, Ms. Maria E. Brewer on June 8, 2016, in which she informed the members about the incident for the first time she was rude and walked out on members twice.

Answering questions from Ossai Nicholas Ossai, the committee chairman on why Entwistle would write a damaging letter to the Speaker when there was no proof, the minister said the letter was to brief the Speaker on the alleged misconduct  to ensure his people do not jeopardise the programme in future.

“I will see this more as to remind your members to be sure they don’t put themselves in such a situation as it could lead to Nigeria not participating in such a programme in future.”

Enyeama said the ambassador breached protocol by writing to the Speaker, “the normal channel would be to come through the ministry,” he said.

When asked by the committee if there was any sanction for such a behaviour, he said: “There is none, we just brought it to his notice.”

The committee was, however, shocked to learn that though the event from which the allegation emanated was a government-to-government  programme, the minister  said his ministry was not aware, and that Nigerian Embassy in America was unaware.

One of the three House of Representatives members accused of sexual misconduct in the United States was yesterday close to tears as he defended his integrity before the panel probing the allegations made by U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria James Entwistle.

Rep. Mohammed Gololo (APC-Bauchi) was alleged to have sexually assaulted a housekeeper in his hotel room. His colleagues, Mark Gbillah (APC-Benue) and Samuel Ikon (PDP-Akwa Ibom) were accused of soliciting for prostitutes while attending a leadership programme in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

During the investigative hearing on the allegations, by the joint Committees on Ethics and Privileges and Foreign Affairs in Abuja yesterday, they demanded video evidence from the ambassador who leveled the allegations in a letter to Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

Gbillah, whose eyes were misty while testifying, denied the allegation, saying the reliance on evidence from employees of the hotel and confirmation of identities of the lawmakers in a group photograph was faulty.

According to him, the action did not comply with global norms that demanded fair hearing on such matter.

“We were not contacted by the US embassy to hear from us about what transpired at the hotel.

“This is the only evidence they admitted that they have contrary to all fallacious statements in the media about them having video evidence.

“I can then dare the U.S. government today to produce the video evidence about something that does not exist.

“Some of us will not relent in this matter,’’ Gbillah said.

He added that the accused lawmakers suspended legal process on the matter in deference to the ongoing investigation.

“But, when you have concluded we are taking it up at whatever U.S. department wants because it is my reputation and career and I will not take this lying low,’’ he said.

 Gololo, who was accused of grabbing a house keeper at the Marriot Hotel in Cleveland, described the allegation as spurious.

He demanded that the allegation should be retracted and apologies tendered by the US government if video evidence was not produced.

According to him, I never grabbed any body and all through my stay in the hotel, I did not come in contact with any house keeper.

“So, I insist that the video evidence against me be produced not only to clear my name but to seek redress for the damages done to my reputation.

“I am ready to go back to Cleveland at my expense to establish my innocence without prejudice to my right,’’ Gololo said.

Ikom said the U.S. Ambassador’s letter that suggested that all parties were interrogated before arriving at a conclusion was misleading.

He said:” My views on this issue have not been sought; I have not been confronted with facts at their disposal.

Chairman,  House Committee on Ethics and Privileges, Rep. Nicholas Ossai, adopted the submissions of the lawmakers and adjourned the hearing till today.

Ossai said the panel will take submissions from Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama, who was absent at the investigative hearing because of his engagement at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

The House of Representatives is seeking an audience with the United States Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, after the envoy shunned Thursday’s investigative public hearing by the House on the alleged sexual misconduct  by three of its members during a recent visit to the US.

The decision to meet Entwistle appears to be a reversal of the House’s insistence on Thursday that the ambassador must attend the hearing now rescheduled for July 20.

The envoy shunned the Thursday hearing, citing diplomatic immunity.

The investigation was triggered by a June 9, 2016 petition by Entwistle to Speaker Yakubu Dogara in which he accused Mohammed Garba Gololo (Bauchi), Samuel Ikon (Akwa Ibom) and Mark Gbillah (Benue) of attempted rape and soliciting prostitutes while on an official visit to his country in April.

Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, told reporters yesterday that the House will “go to the Ambassador”  if necessary in a bid to get to the root of the allegations.

It was gathered that the House had just come to the realisation that the ambassador could not be summoned by the House on account of his immunity.

The Chairperson of the House Committee on Foreign Relations, Elendu- Ukeje, drew attention to the Vienna Convention which precludes an Ambassador from being summoned by his host country’s legislature.

He proposed that the best option was to allow the Minister of Foreign Affairs to provide an enabling platform for an interaction between the committee and Entwistle.

Namdas, who is a member of the joint committee investigating the sexual misconduct allegations, said that although the Ambassador breached the channel of communication by writing to the Speaker directly, the House “will get across to the Ambassador,” upon the return of Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama from an official visit to Rwanda.

He said: “We cannot subject him to compulsorily appearance before this committee. It depends on where you want to go.

“It’s an investigation. The most important thing is that his side will also be heard.”

Namdas allayed fears that the investigation would be compromised because two of the accused persons—Gbillah and Ikon—are members of the Foreign Affairs committee.

His words:”When this thing took place, there was no selection of which committee you belong to for us to say it was done with intention.

“The essence of public hearing is to be able to clear some of these doubts.”

THE Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE) has urged the Federal Government to ensure the sex scandal in the House of Representatives is not sweep it under the carpet.

The CEE-HOPE, in a statement in Lagos, urged the government to get to the bottom of the issue.

‘The recent revelation by the USA Embassy concerning the alleged acts of our lawmakers while in the USA is not only an international embarrassment on our nation but also on future generations of Nigerians whose perception of our leaders have further dimmed,’ said Betty Abah, CEE-HOPE’s Executive Director.

‘These allegations cast a very dark cloud of moral bankruptcy, not only on the three fingered lawmakers, not only on the National Assembly but also on our national integrity.

“Why should supposed role models who should represent us in the ideally hallowed chamber be cast in the moulds of touts lacking in sexual discipline? What examples are they showing to the younger generation?’ she queried.

The Ambassador, in the letter dated June 9, 2016, addressed to Speaker Dogara, Mohammed Garba Gololo (APC, Bauchi),Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue) had, on a recent visit to the United States for the International Visitor Leadership Programme, brought disrepute to the parliament by soliciting for sex from prostitutes and attempting to rape the housekeeper.

Members of the House of Representatives were last night waiting anxiously for information on the panel which Speaker Yakubu Dogara promised on Thursday to set up to probe the allegation that three Reps  groped a hotel chambermaid and tried to solicit prostitutes while visiting the US.

Listed for probe are Mohammed Garba Gololo (Gamawa, Bauchi State) who is alleged to have “grabbed a housekeeper in his hotel room and solicited her for sex,” Mark Terseer Gbillah (Gwer East/Gwer West, Benue) and  Samuel Ikon (Etinam/Nsit Ibom/Nsit Ubium, Cross River) both of who  allegedly “requested  hotel parking attendants to assist them to solicit prostitutes.”

The decision to probe them stemmed from a petition to the Speaker by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, who said the US government “took pains to confirm these allegations and identities of the individuals with the employees of the hotel.”

Gololo and Gbillah have strenuously denied the allegations.

Gbillah’s US-based wife, Sophia, spoke yesterday with The Nation on the phone, defending her husband.

She said her man was wrongly accused.

Although House spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas, told reporters on Thursday that the Green Chamber of the National Assembly had commenced investigation into the scandal, The Nation gathered last night that no committee of the House had been assigned the responsibility by the Speaker.

A House source who pleaded anonymity said the leadership of the House appeared to be treading cautiously on the issue, hence the delay in constituting the panel.

The source said: “Normally, the Nicholas Ossai-led Ethics and Privileges Committee that conducts investigation into allegations of misdemeanor by members should have been mandated by the leadership to handle the matter.

“But as we speak, no official information has been forwarded to the committee to commence any investigation in that direction.

“We cannot however rule out the composition of an ad hoc committee to do the job in view of the magnitude of the allegation and the fact that the nation’s image is at stake.

“If the leadership prefers an ad hoc committee, no one should be surprised that some members of the leadership would be members.

“As we speak, nothing has been done so far. But it is also possible that the Speaker might have asked some people (without the knowledge of other members) to carry out the investigation.”

The US Embassy has already cancelled the visas of the three Reps.

Gololo and Gbillah are demanding retraction of the allegations by the ambassador.

Gololo, rising in his own defence, dismissed the allegation against him as false and unfounded.

“I was shocked. I was embarrassed. There is nothing as such that has happened,” he told the BBC.

“You can imagine if one attempted to rape someone or grabbed someone, what stopped the person from screaming? What stopped the person from shouting?” he asked.

“Remember we were there in April. Now we are in June. What stopped them from alleging or stopped them from reporting from April until now? What stopped them from bringing footage or some video clips of how it happened and where it happened?

“It’s false, it’s unfounded, and it’s really embarrassing.”

Gbillah in a lengthy protest letter to the US Ambassador said: “The accused individuals were not accosted with these allegations while in the US so they could immediately defend themselves. The hotel employees conveniently refrained from making these allegations while the members of the group were in the United States and curiously decided to do so after our departure.

“What is the reason behind their not reporting these incidents immediately they occurred and why are we only being informed about these allegations two months after our return from the US?

“None of the members of the group was driving a vehicle while at the hotel and would therefore have had no cause to interact with the car park attendants as the Residence Inn car park is not in front of the hotel but somewhere behind and some distance away from the hotel.

“You will have to go out of your way to go to the car park so video footage should clearly indicate whether or not any member of the group interacted with a hotel car park attendant.

“Other groups comprising African Americans and other ‘people of colour’ were also occupying the Residence Inn while this group of House of Representatives members was visiting Cleveland because of the scheduled basketball game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks at the Quicken Loans Arena, which is just across the road from the hotel.

“What is the certainty of the ability of the probably caucasian hotel car park attendants to accurately identify the specific members of any of the groups at the hotel as being responsible for the purported infractions?”

His engineer wife, Sophia, speaking by phone from the USA, said:

“My husband did not do what he has been accused of. What they have alleged that he did. The few people in Nigeria today, who have had cause to interact with my husband would have come away with a certain impression of the kind of person that my husband is. And that impression is that he is an honourable, but more importantly God- fearing person.

“Because of the value that my husband places on the God he serves, he would never do this kind of thing. Because of the kind of person that my husband is as a person, he would never do this kind of thing. And finally, because my husband values his family and loves me, his wife, he would never do this kind of thing.

“So, yes, my response to all this is: I know my husband very well, and I know my husband did not do anything that they have said; any of the things that they have alleged he did. So the accusations are totally unfounded, completely unfounded.

“Now to the second issue of where I was, where he was…when this program came up, my husband requested officially by e- mail, from the organisers of this programme that he would be traveling with his wife and his baby…we have a 9-month-old baby, that he would like them to accompany him on this programme.

“The person who initially responded to that mail was a bit aggressive in his response, telling my husband that he can’t come with me. The way he responded was not the nicest way, and I have evidence, facts to prove it. It was sent by e-mail and the e- mail is still in existence.

“So, as a result of that, my husband and I agreed that we would travel together, but I decided that no, I’m just going to allow you go and do this thing by yourself in the chosen location. Now after this response from the man who responded initially, we were now able to talk to another one of the organizers of the programme who said it’s okay, I could go but could attend non-official events like the basketball event.

“But I thought I had already decided that since they said it’s an official thing and family is not allowed. You just go do what you have to do. I would be in the US as well, but you go do this.

“Where I am is about 45 minutes to an hour from where my husband was. He was in Washington DC and I was in Owings Mills, Maryland. They had to go to two separate locations – Washinton DC and Cleveland in Ohio. My husband came to see us the night of the day they were supposed to finish from Washington

“My husband and I are constantly on FaceTime when we are not together. Now my husband went to Ohio and I knew just about what went on. The day they were free, he was with me on FaceTime all day.”