Rep sex scandal: US envoy to tender video evidence as hearing begins Thursday

The outgoing United States of America Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle has promised to present video evidence to the House Ethics and Privileges Committee probing the allegation made  against the three House of Representatives members accused of sexual misconduct while in on an official trip to America when the public hearing begins on Thursday.

The three members according to the letter from the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria which was addressed to Speaker Yakubu Dogara are Rep. Mohammed Garba Gololo (APC-Bauchi); Rep. Samuel Ikon (PDP-Akwa- Ibom) and Rep. Mark Gbillah (APC-Benue).

Entwistle had in the petition to Dogara alleged that the actions of the three lawmakers at the International Visitor Leadership Programme in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, from 7th to 13th April, 2016, brought disrepute to the parliament because they solicited for sex from prostitutes and allegedly grabbed a hotel housekeeper in a bid to rape her.

Sources informed our correspondents that the committee had been unable to sit because some of the members of the committee had traveled to perform their religious obligation in Mecca during the Ramadan fast.

It was also gathered that the committee opted not to invite the hotel management as the Ambassador who broke the information through a letter to the Speaker was expected to have all the documentary evidence against the three accused members.

Apart from the US Ambassador who is expected at the public hearing, the Committee also invited the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, the three accused lawmakers as well as the other seven House members who attended the leadership programme.

Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Ossai informed journalists that the committee decided not to invite the management of the hotel where the alleged sex misconduct took place because it believed that the Ambassador would come with all the necessary video evidence where the accused persons committed the act.

Besides, he said that the Committee did not carry out any secret investigation because the members involved in the allegation had demanded a public investigative hearing for Nigerians to see their culpability or otherwise.

The Daily Times recalls that Dogara while inaugurating the Ethics Committee alongside that of Foreign Affairs after the House resolution at plenary on June 21, had mandated it to investigate the culpability of the three members involved in the alleged sex misconduct.

He described the assignment as a very serious one where many people had already made their conclusion that the three accused lawmakers were guilty of the offence, adding that, “the standard in the US is that an accused is assumed innocent until proven guilty and that is the same standard in Nigeria. Anyone who has evidence can now see the committee.”