The lawmakers, Mohammed
Garba Gololo, Samuel Ikon, and Mark Gbillah, were alleged to have committed
sexual misconduct on a training programme in Cleveland, Ohio, United States
between April 7 and 13 2016 by the ambassador himself in a June 9 letter to
Speaker Yakubu Dogara.
United States Ambassador,
James Entwistle, is expected to testify and provide evidence before the House
of Representatives panel probing the allegation of sexual misconduct against
three lawmakers on Thursday.
He accused the members of
soliciting s*x from prostitutes and one of them grabbed a hotel housekeeper in
a bid to rape her insisting that they brought disrepute to the Nigerian
parliament.
Ruling on the matter,
Dogara insisted that unless evidence is provided, the onus of proof is with
those making the allegations as the lawmakers are legally presumed innocent and
mandated its joint committees on Ethics and Privileges, and Foreign Affairs to
investigate the allegations.
The committee sent an
invitation for the ambassador to appear before it on Monday but sitting was
moved till Thursday on the request of the embassy.
Entwistle is likely to
provide evidence of the alleged misdeeds based on the continuous denials of the
three members and the posture of the House that the Ambassador must show proof.
Others expected to appear
before the probe panel are: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema;
representatives of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights; the three
accused lawmakers and seven other lawmakers that attended the leadership
Programme.
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