Alleged sex scandal: Reps to sue US Govt for $1bn damages

Alleged sex scandal: Reps to sue US Govt for $1bn damages

The three members of the House of Representatives exonerated
of the sexual misconduct allegations levelled against them by the
United States Government are set to file a $1bn suit against the
latter and its agents, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
They are House Deputy Chairman, Committee on Petroleum
Resources (Upstream), Mr. Terse Mark-Gbillah (Benue); Mr.
Samuel Ikon (Akwa Ibom); and Mr. Mohammed Garba-Gololo
(Bauchi).
A former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, had
accused the three lawmakers of committing the alleged
misconduct during a visit to his country last April for a leadership
training programme, prompting the Nigerian legislature to call for
an investigation.
The House had exonerated the lawmakers on Tuesday after a
report by its Joint Committees on Ethics/Privileges and Foreign
Relations found no wrongdoing on their part.
It will be recalled that the narrative changed in favour of Mark-
Gbillah, Garba-Gololo and Ikon after the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, appeared before the committees
on July 21 to testify that the US did not produce any concrete
evidence to prove the allegations.
Entwistle failed to appear before the committees, while a female
maid, who alleged that Garba-Gololo “grabbed” her, also
declined to testify.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH on the outcome of the
investigation, Mark-Gbillah disclosed that the three lawmakers
would immediately institute a legal action against their accusers
in the US.
Mark-Gbillah, who spoke for the three lawmakers, stated that the
US Government, Entwistle, the Marriot Hotel, the US Embassy
and their agents would be sued for damages.
This will be in addition to demanding what he called
“internationally-published apology.”
He expressed regrets that they would be unable to visit the US
physically to file the suit because their visas, which were
withdrawn in the wake of the “false allegations”, had not been
restored.
Mark-Gbillah gave details of the steps the members would take,
saying, “We won’t let the matter go like that because our
reputation has been defamed internationally and there is also the
cancellation of our visas to consider, a decision that has still not
been reversed.
“In the American archives, the records have not been set straight.
As a matter of fact, this has already affected the members of one
of our families.
“We will be seeking legal redress in the US; we are going to take
the hotel to court, the Marriot Hotel, the parent brand, the place
we stayed (in the US). We are going to take the (former US)
ambassador himself and the US State Department, who are his
employers to court. We are going to be taking the local
organisers of the programme to court as well.
“We will be seeking among other things, an internationally-
published apology to us as individuals, to the National Assembly
and to Nigeria by the US Government.
“We are going to be seeking damages from all concerned parties
and right now, we are looking at suing in the region of $1bn.
“Already, contacts have been made with various law firms in the
US. We want to use a very reputable law firm.
“You can now see that the revocation of our visas is now
hindering our ability to visit the US physically to do the ground
work. We are liaising with our lawyers via email messages and
telephone calls.
“The lawyers will still advise us on whether to ask for damages of
up to $10bn because the damage they did to us can’t be
quantified in financial terms.”
Saturday PUNCH was unable to reach Garba-Gololo for
comments, but Ikon confirmed that Mark-Gbillah spoke for the
group.
“Mark-Gbillah is our spokesperson. Whatever he has said is what
we are going to do.
“For me, there is no comment again,” he added.
The House committees made three recommendations to the
session, which was presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr.
Yussuff Lasun.
It read, “That Hon. Mohammed Garba Gololo, Hon. Mark Terseer
Gbillah and Hon. Samuel Ikon are cleared of and exonerated from
the allegations levelled against them by the United States
Ambassador to Nigeria in his June 9, 2016 letter to the Rt. Hon.
Speaker, for want of evidence;
“That in the light of the foregoing, the Hon. Minister of Foreign
Affairs do engage with (sic) the United States Ambassador to
Nigeria, with a view to finding a seamless resolution of the
domestic fallout of this unfortunate incident as it relates to Hon.
Mohammed Garba Gololo, Hon. Mark Terseer Gbillah and Hon.
Samuel Ikon;
“That the Ministry of Foreign Affairs do write (sic) to remind the
United States Embassy of the need to always adopt the official
channel of communications in its dealings with any organ or
institution of government.”
The House adopted all three recommendations soon after the
Lead Chairman, Mr. Nicholas Ossai, briefed members on the
findings of the investigation.
He stated, “The committee was not availed of any concrete
evidence outside the confidential letter the ambassador wrote the
speaker.
“There was no video, audio or any form of evidence presented
before the committee to justify the allegations.”
While testifying on July 21, Onyeama had told the committee how
he encountered Entwistle over the allegations, but could not get
“concrete evidence.”
He explained how the former US Ambassador also apologised for
not using the official diplomatic channel to route his letter to the
Speaker (Mr. Yakubu Dogara) through the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.

Punch