The Explainer: How 3 Nigerian lawmakers landed in US sex scandal

An international leadership program is enmeshed in a sex scandal as three members of the Nigerian House of Representatives have been accused of sexual misconduct while on an official trip to Cleveland, United States of America.

The lawmakers are: Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom), Mohammed Gololo (APC, Bauchi) and Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue).

  • The misconduct was allegedly carried out in April this year.
  • The US government, through its Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, has expressed its displeasure on the issue through a petition sent to the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara.
  • According to the petition, the lawmakers, who have been barred from entering the US, committed the said misconduct when they visited Cleveland for the International Visitors Leadership Program.
  • At the hotel, Gololo reportedly grabbed a housekeeper and solicited for sex while the other two lawmakers allegedly asked parking lot attendants to find prostitutes for them.
  • Speaker of the House of Representatives has instituted a panel that will investigate the matter.
  • One of the accused persons, Gololo, has threatened to sue the US government. He said the accusation was an insult to the National Assembly and also false.
  • Gololo said the following:

“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.”

“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”.

 

  • Below is the petition sent to the speaker of the House by the US government.

“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.”

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