US Ambassador Accuses Nigeria Reps of Attempted Rape, Solicitation for Prostitutes in US

…Reps: its character defamation and attempt to ridicule the National Assembly

The United States Envoy to Nigeria, James Entwistle, has petitioned the

Speaker of the Nigeria House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, accusing

members of the Lower House, who were on a recent trip to United States of

attempted rape, improper conduct and solicitation for prostitutes.

But the the accused reps have protested, demanding footage of the

allegation as a proof and threatened to sue US government for “character

defamation and a calculated attempt to ridicule the National Assembly”.

In a letter dated June 9, 2016, the envoy accused three members of the

House namely Hon. Mohammed Garba Gololo (APC, Bauchi), Hon. Samuel Ikon

(PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Hon. Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue) who were on a recent

visit to the United States for the International Visitor Leadership

Program, of bringing disrepute to the parliament by soliciting for sex

from prostitutes and grabbing a hotel housekeeper in a bid to rape.

Ten lawmakers were invited by the US government for the International

Visitor Leadership Program held between April 7 and 13, 2016 in Cleveland,

Ohio. The lawmakers are: Gaza Jonathan Gbefwi (PDP Nasarawa State),

Danburam Abubakar Nuhu (APC-Kano State), Nkole Uko Ndukwe (PDP-Abia

State), Rita Orji (PDP Lagos State), Ayo Huliyat Omidiran (APC-Osun).

The ambassador’s letter 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.”
He said the US government made efforts to authenticate the allegations.

“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.”
Enwistle acknowledged that “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.”
He said the affected lawmakers did not show remorse when confronted.

“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 judgement 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,” the envoy said.
In his reaction, one the accused members, Mark Gbillah said that there was

no truth in the ambassador’s allegations as it was designed to cause

disaffection between them and their wives, families and constituents

noting that they were not given fair hearing.
He said he was on the trip with his wife and baby and could not, in any

way, solicit for sex from a prostitute.
“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.”

He told his own version of the story “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.”
In his own reaction, Hon Kolo 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”.

Spokesman of the House spokesman, Abdulrazaq Namdas, confirmed the receipt

of the letter by the speaker.
“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,” the lawmaker told New Telegraph on condition of

anonymity.
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