AREN’T NIGERIAN LAWMAKERS ROLE MODELS
FOR US TO FOLLOW?
by Dr. James C. Agazie, jamesagazie@gmail.com
The purpose of this essay is to report on a letter of
sex scandal involving Nigerian lawmakers without adding a word of this essayist
and to give the authors and internet sources. Readers are asked to draw their
conclusions. This essayist is a teacher, does not support any political party,
and does not advocate militancy or violence to overthrow Nigerian or any
government. He speaks the truth as he sees it. We owe it as a duty to conscience and other
citizens to speak the truth.
See also http://www.otimestv.com/2016/06/konji-us-ambassador-exposes-nigerian.html
The Ambassador, in a letter
dated June 9, 2016, addressed to Speaker Dogara, exclusively obtained by New
Telegraph, alleged that three members of the House namely: Hon. Mohammed Garba
Gololo (APC, Bauchi), Hon. Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Hon. Mark Gbillah
(APC, Benue) had, on a recent visit to the United States for the International
Visitor Leadership Program, brought disrepute to the parliament by soliciting
for sex from prostitutes and grabbing 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. They include: Gaza
Jonathan Gbefwi (PDPNasarawa State), Danburam Abubakar Nuhu (APC-Kano State),
Nkole Uko Ndukwe (PDP-Abia State), Rita Orji (PDPLagos State), Ayo Huliyat
Omidiran (APC-Osun). Entwistle’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.”
Entwistle said the US
government made efforts to authenticate these allegations. His words: “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.”
The ambassador
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.” Entwistle
stated that the affected lawmakers did not show remorse when the issue was
brought to them.
“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,” he said in the letter.
But, Gbillah said that
there was no iota of truth in what the ambassador said but a calculated attempt
to cause disaffection between them and their wives, families and constituents
as they were not given any fair hearing before the letter was sent to the
speaker.
He said he was on the
trip with his wife and baby and could not, in any way, solicit for sex from a
prostitute. He said: “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.”
Narrating the story of
their stay in US, Gbillah said: “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.”
Also, in his letter to
the speaker, dated June 13, Gololo, who was accused of grabbing a housekeeper,
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” When contacted, spokesman for the House, Abdulrazaq
Namdas, confirmed the receipt of the letter by the speaker. All attempts to get
Hon. Ikon to tell his side of the story were unsuccessful as his phone number
was permanently shut. A member of the House on the delegation expressed shock
and disbelief about the incident.
“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.
About the Author
Reported by Dr. James C. Agazie, jamesagazie@gmail.com
Also jamesagazies.blogspot.com
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