U.S. HAS “SOLID EVIDENCE” OF SEX SCANDAL AGAINST NIGERIAN LAWMAKERS – SOURCES DECLARED

     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 reports.
It would be recalled that the U.S. Ambassador to 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 asserted 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 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.
    Other 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
Also sources 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

Ambassador Entwistle would neither retract nor apologize for the contents of the letter sent to the Speaker,
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,” the source said.
“Prostitution is not legal in the U.S., they were informed about that before their departure,” the source said.
“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.
            In the meantime 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.