Three Nigerian lawmakers have been accused of attempted rape and soliciting for prostitutes while visiting the United States of America on an official assignment in April 2016, reports NewsDay. The three lawmakers are Mohammed Garba Gololo (APC, Bauchi), Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Hon. Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue). The accusation was made by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle. Entwistle, in a petition to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, alleged that three lawmakers during their visit to the US for the International Visitor Leadership Program in Cleveland, Ohio, lodged at Cleveland hotel where two of the lawmakers met with the hotel’s parking lot attendants and asked for links to prostitutes that would spend the night with them. Entwistle in the petition dated June 9, noted that one of the lawmakers allegedly grabbed a housekeeper in the hotel room, demanding for sex.
According to the petition, the housekeeper and parking lot attendants reported to the hotel management who then filed a complaint at the US Mission who investigated the allegations.
The lawmakers have, however, denied the allegations according to The Brief. They said the allegations was a calculated attempt to ridicule the National Assembly. They stated that the allegations against them was made a month after they had left the US. They wonder why they were not questioned while they were still in America during the course of their assignment and argued that no video footage was provided by the hotel management to back up the claims.
The affected lawmakers have written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, calling for a full scaled investigation into the allegations. The accused lawmakers have equally threatened to seek redress in a court if the ambassador refuses to retract his allegations
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