U.S. officials have “solid evidence”
of the alleged misconduct
Ambassador James Entwistle
reported to House of
Representatives Speaker, Yakubu
Dogara, high-level diplomatic
sources have told PREMIUM
TIMES.
In a letter dated June 9, the U.S.
Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr.
Entwistle, accused three Nigerian
lawmakers – Mohammed Garba
Gololo (Bauchi APC), Samuel Ikon
(Akwa Ibom PDP) and Mark
Gbillah (Benue APC) – of soliciting
sexual favours from hotel staff in
two separate incidents.
Mr. Gololo allegedly grabbed a
housekeeper in his hotel room and
solicited her for sex while Messrs.
Ikon and Gbilla allegedly
requested hotel parking
attendants to assist them to
procure prostitutes.
The alleged incidents occurred in
April at the Residence Inn Marriot,
Downtown Cleveland and were
promptly reported to State
Department officials by the hotel’s
management.
In response to the lawmakers’
denial of the allegations and
threats of legal action, local
sources in Cleveland and sources
close to State Department and the
Nigerian diaspora community in
Washington DC have told
PREMIUM TIMES that relevant
U.S. officials are in possession of
records specifying “circumstances
of” the alleged incidents, including
“eyewitness reports” and real-time
“video” evidence.
“The Ambassador wouldn’t have
written to the Speaker if there is
no solid evidence,” said one of our
sources, who added that after the
hotel manager reported the
incidents, State Department
officers “had to investigate before
acting on the allegations.”
The investigation was extensive
and exhaustive; it included
interrogation of relevant hotel
staff and review of all closed-
circuit cameras in the vicinity of
the alleged incidents, state
department insiders said.
Hinting at details of the
investigation, our source
countered Mr. Gololo’s denial,
insisting that of the three
lawmakers, “he is the one who
actually put his hand on somebody, the others
only made a verbal request”.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt from the state
department that “the woman he (Gololo)
allegedly accosted felt intimidated”. Local
Cleveland sources told us that she feared she
would lose her job if she screamed or caused
discomfort to the hotel’s other guests.
She however reported the incident to her
supervisor at the soonest opportunity after
extricating herself from the offensive situation.
Our source equally brushed aside Mr. Gbilla’s
protestations about not having a car as a
diversion.
“You don’t need to have a car to talk to a
parking lot attendant,” he said.
This newspaper was reliably informed by our
Washington DC sources that Ambassador
Entwistle would neither retract nor apologize
for the contents of the letter sent to the
Speaker.
“In all honesty, the Ambassador would not have
gone forward with the letter if there is no solid
evidence behind it,” he said adding that Mr.
Entwistle “is not going to apologize; there is
nothing to apologize for.”
Contrary to Mr. Gbillah’s assertion that Mr.
Entwistle’s petition was an attempt “to bring
disrepute to the hallowed institution of the
National Assembly and the entire nation of
Nigeria”, our source said the intention was to
put out there that some participants in the
International Visitor Leadership Programme
(IVLP), not all, are guilty of bad behaviour and
to educate participants who may be admitted
for this and other programmes in future.
“The reality is that these three gentlemen made
a mistake. They violated the terms of the IVLP
of which they were duly informed before they
left Abuja,” our source said.
“Prostitution is not legal in the U.S., they were
informed about that before their departure,”
the source said.
Our source insists that the lawmakers even had
a chance to redeem their image after the fact.
“If they had been remorseful, if they had just
said it was miscommunication and apologized,
that would have been the end of it,” the source
said.
Instead, the lawmakers over-reacted and made
their case “sound worse than it is”, said our
source.
“They were accused of assault and solicitation,
no one talked about rape,” the source added.
PREMIUM TIMES has it on good authority that
State Department officials are not worried
about the lawmakers’ threat of legal action
because, according to our Washington DC
sources, “they know their evidence will hold up
in court”.
“If they (Gololo, Ikon and Gbillah) want the full
spotlight of the justice system to shine on the
evidence in the possession of the State
Department, they should go ahead and initiate a
lawsuit,” the source said.
He also insisted that the lawmakers were
accorded due respect even after hotel staff
reported the incidents to their managers.
“Their conduct was a breach of U.S. law, instead
of calling State Department officials, hotel
managers could have had them summarily
arrested and charged. As it is, everybody gave
them a pass, letting them complete the
programme without interference,” said the
source.
The lawmakers’ alleged misconduct resonated
negatively among Nigerian-Americans who are
active in ongoing U.S. presidential election
campaigns.
Those scheduled to be in Cleveland next month
for the Republican Convention and allied
political activities are weary that they may be
victimized for the lawmakers’ bad behaviour.
Hotel management and staff may single them
out for unsavoury treatment, they said.
“I won’t be surprised if they keep female
service staff away from anyone who identifies
as a Nigerian or carries Nigerian passport,” a
Washington-based Nigerian said.
Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC has
operated without an ambassador since the
death of Professor Adebowale Adefuye last
September.
When contacted, Gbara Awanen, Head of the
Political Section, Embassy of Nigeria,
Washington DC, said other than what he read in
the Nigerian media, he knew nothing about the
incident.
Other officials declined to comment for this
story.

www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/205888-u-s-solid-evidence-sex-scandal-nigerian-lawmakers-sources.html

Ok

Let them spill it already