SEX SCANDAL: CONSTITUENTS DISOWN INDICTED REPS

JUST as Nigerians anticipate the out­come of the House of Representa­tives' examination of the claimed contribution of three of its mem­bers in a sex embarrassment in the United States, political pioneers from their bodies electorate are as of now taking different positions on what ought to be the destiny of the government lawmak­ers.

Lamentably for the troubled legislators, none of their constitu­ents was prepared to vouch for them even as some of them lamented that the arraignment has conveyed a national and universal embar­rassment to their voting demographics.

Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, had on Thursday, coordinated the examination of the three arraigned individuals follow­ing a discretionary protestation against them by the United States Govern­ment.

The Chairman, House Commit­tee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, who con­firmed the test clarified that the authority of the House chose to explore the claimed sex scan­dal taking after a formal protestation made by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle.

He said, "We are in receipt of a letter from the US Ambassador, al­leging unfortunate behavior by some mem­bers of the National Assembly, who went to preparing in the Unit­ed States of America. The leader­ship of the House has started its own part of the examination. When it is finished up, we will brief Nigerians further on this issue."

The influenced individuals – Mo­hammed Garba Gololo (APC, Bauchi), Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue) – purportedly dedicated the demonstration amid a late excursion to the US to take an interest in the International Visitor Leadership Program on Good Governance sorted out by the US Government.

The three administrators were mem­bers of a group of 10 legislators selected to go to the initiative project, which occurred in Cleveland, Ohio, between April 7 and 13 this year.

US opens jar of worms

Entwistle, in his June 9 letter to Dogara, expressed: "It is with misgiving that I should draw out into the open the accompanying circumstance. Ten mem­bers of the Nigerian National As­sembly as of late made a trip to Cleve­land, Ohio as members in the International Visitor Leadership Program on great administration.

"We got disturbing allega­tions with respect to the conduct of three individuals from the designation to the U.S. Government's flag­ship proficient trade pro­gramme.

"The U.S Department of State and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs got reports from workers of the Cleveland lodging where the delegates stayed, charging the agents occupied with the accompanying behav­iour:

"Mohammed Garba Gololo al­legedly got a maid in his inn room and requested her for sex. While the servant re­ported this to her administration, this episode could have included nearby law implementation and brought about legitimate results for Represen­tative Gololo.

"Mark Terseer Gbillah and Sam­uel Ikon professedly asked for inn stopping chaperons help them to request whores. The U.S. Mis­sion went to considerable lengths to affirm these charges and the personalities of the people with the representatives of the inn in Cleveland.

"The behavior portrayed above left an extremely negative impression of Nigeria, throwing a shadow on Ni­geria's National Assembly, the In­ternational Visitor Leadership Pro­gram, and to the American hosts' impression of Nigeria all in all. Such lead could influence a few members' capacity to go to the United States later on.

"While the greater part of Nigerian guests to the United States do be­have fittingly, even a couple Ni­gerians showing poor judge­ment prompts a poor impression of the Nigerian individuals by and large, however it is a long way from precise.

"Such episodes endanger the capacity of future programming and make host organizations and organ­isations less inclined to welcome comparative visits later on.

"Moreover, the vast majority of the mem­bers of this gathering responded adversely to my representative when she conveyed this matter to their atten­tion, further raising doubt about their judgment and responsibility to the objectives of the International Visitor Leadership Program. This leads us to address whether to incorporate National Assembly individuals for other comparable pro­grammes later on.

"I ask for, in the most grounded pos­sible terms, you impart this message to individuals from the National As­sembly so they comprehend the se­riousness of these issues, and the potential results of their activities, for themselves as people, as well as for the eventual fate of such projects intended to advantage Nigeria."

Some different individuals who par­ticipated in the project however were not fingered in the embarrassment were Chairman, House Committee on the Diaspora Affairs, Mrs. Rita Orji; Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Gaza Jonathan; Mrs. Ayo Omidiran; Mr. Danburam Abubakar; and Mr. Nkole Nduk­we.

Prosecuted administrators spit fire

One of the troubled lawmak­ers, Mark Gbillah, had composed Entwistle on Thursday, blaming the US for not giving the three individuals reasonable hearing. Gbillah likewise communicated shock in his letter that inside hours of conveying the matter to the consideration of the House, the US Government had proceeded to scratch off the visas of the officials.

He undermined to promptly initiate legitimate activities against the US Government, the Ambassa­dor and the Marriot Hotel Brand, among others for harms.

Some portion of Gbillah's letter, which was dated June 16, read, "Without convincing confirmation of any kind or contact with any of the charged people, the US State Depart­ment and US Embassy in Nigeria have under six days after your letter to the Speaker, proceeded to repudiate the US visas of the ac­cused people in view of prattle from the representatives of the inn in Cleveland.

"Influenced people got correspondence from the US Em­bassy on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, showing the foreswearing of their US visas and asking for that they carry their travel permits with the cur­rent US visa to the Embassy."

The letter was replicated to Dogara, the US Secretary of State, Nige­ria's Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Cleveland Council of World Affairs, and the President and Chief Executive Officer, Marriott International.

On his part, Ikon asserted that the affirmation leveled against him was untrue as well as an instance of mixed up character.

He expressed, "My consideration has been attracted to the distribution, asserting a demonstration of shamefulness against me by the US Mission in Nigeria.

"I wish to state unequivocally this is false and certainly not me. This, to me, is an instance of mis­taken personality and I have as of now initiated measures both legitimately and carefully to demonstrate my innocence and the organization I repre­sent."

Gololo while talking with the BBC Hausa administration on Friday in Abuja, asserted the affirmation of assault against him was not valid and tested the US government to think of solid confirmations and proof including that he was ever prepared to demonstrate his purity including doing a reversal to America when required.

The beset government administrator said following the news broke, his sup­porters from Gamawa, and past have been calling to sympathize with him and even let him know that comparable assertions of assault had been made against individuals rep­resenting Gamawa voting public in the National Assembly previously.

We're stunned Lawmakers' constituents

From Benue state, Engr. Fe­lix Atume, a previous Registrar of COREN and PDP governorship wannabe in the last broad elec­tions said he sees Gbillah as a man of his word however couldn't vouch for his behavior in the US.

"Gbillah has denied the allega­tion saying he went to the US with his significant other and kids. Aside that, I know him to be a man of his word to the center. He is an extremely centered individual and from a decent family back­ground as well. In any case, once more, I didn't go to the US with him and may not comprehend what happened there", he included.

In his response, Chief Abu King Shuluwa, PDP chieftain in the state portrayed the episode as unfortu­nate.

His words: "It's appalling this has happened yet I ex­pect Nigerians to be cautious with outsiders, particularly the whites, on the grounds that those things that don't make a difference to us matter to them a considerable measure. Our agents ought to understand that everyone's eyes are on them as our diplomats and be extremely cautious what they do outside. "In any case, we have such a large number of issues in Nigeria that are asking for consideration. This specific one is a diversion. Why ought to the American Ambassador in Nigeria be reporting such matter about our delegates? That is to demonstrate that Nigeria is in the eye of the world and we should be care­ful what we do."

A national pioneer of the APC, Senator JKN Waku, will however need to fail in favor of alert. "I have perused it through the online networking yet I have not seen the letter composed by the American Ambas­sador to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. When I see the letter, I will respond both to the House of Representatives and the constit­uency. For the time being, it resemble talk and I am mature enough to realize that I shouldn't respond to negligible gossip", Waku noted.

The Youth pioneer of the New Nigeria People's Party (NNPP) in Bauchi State, Alhaji Danladi Mai­gari Gamawa in his response to the arraignment of Gololo expres