US Ambassador may Use Video Evidence at House of Rep Rape Investigation

United States Ambassador to Nigeria James Entwistle will on Thursday give a testimony at the floor of the House of Representatives on the allegations of attempted rape and other sexual misconduct levied against three members of the House.

The US envoy was originally slated to appear before the lawmakers on Tuesday but there was a shift in date to accommodate his schedule according to a report by the Nation.

The lawmakers from Gombe, Cross River and Benue – Mohammed Garba Gololo, Samuel Ikon, and Mark Gbillah – were accused of sexual impropriety while on a training programme in Cleveland, Ohio, United States between April 7 and 13.

The outgoing ambassador had on June 9 in a letter to Speaker Yakubu Dogara stated that the members brought disrepute to the Nigerian parliament by soliciting for sex from prostitutes and one of them grabbed a hotel housekeeper in a bid to rape her.

On June 21, the House, during plenary, mandated its joint committees to investigate the allegations. The committees are: Ethics and Privileges, and Foreign Affairs.

The Speaker has however so far maintained that no evidence had been forwarded to his office apart from the letter, and that there can be no conviction without a trial.

“Together with the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, we will get to the bottom of this matter”, he said.

A few sources close to the US embassy are said to have hinted that Entwistle may shock members by providing video 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.

Other officials expected to appear before the probe panel are Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyema; Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR); the three accused lawmakers and seven other lawmakers that attended the leadership programme in Cleveland.