No Evidence Against Nigerian Lawmakers Accused of Sexual Misconduct By US Government

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, said, yesterday, that there had been no sufficient evidence to prove that the three members of the House of Representatives accused of sexual misconduct really committed the crime.

Onyema, who stated this when he appeared before the House of Representatives Ethics and Privilege Committee and House Committee on Foreign Relations public investigative hearing in Abuja, also disclosed that the outgone United States of America Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, had tendered apology for breaching diplomatic protocol by writing directly to the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, over the allegation instead of passing through the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The three members facing allegations of sexual misconduct are Mohammed Garba Gololo (APC, Bauchi); Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom) and Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue).

Testifying before the committee, the minister said in his interactions with the ambassador, he (Ambassador) said when the allegation against the members came up from his country, he felt the obligation to bring it to the notice of the speaker.

He said the ambassador did not say the allegations were true or not but wrote the speaker because of the impression the allegation created, as it could affect Nigerians participating in future programme.

Onyema said the letter from the ambassador to the speaker was to tell him to caution his members not to behave in a manner that could jeopardise their subsequent participation in the programme and potray Nigeria in bad light.