The House of Representatives on Thursday shifted the hearing in the sexual House of Representatives’ members allegedly committed by three lawmakers in the United States of America to Wednesday, next week.
The three are the Deputy Chairman, Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Mr. Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue); Mr. Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom); and Mr. Mohammed Garba-Gololo (APC, Bauchi).
The Joint Committees on Ethics/Privileges and Foreign Relations, handling the investigations, shifted the hearing due to the absence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama.
The minister, who was listed to make the lead presentation at the hearing, wrote the committees that he would be unavailable.
In the letter, read by the Lead Chairman of the session, Mr. Nicholas Ossai, the minister said he had travelled to Kigali to attend the “29th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union.”
Onyeama added that he would return to the country on July 19, appealing to the lawmakers to fix another date for him to appear.
Ossai, after consulting with the Co-Chairman, who is the Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, Nnena Ukeje, and other members, fixed July 20 as the next date for the hearing.
But this did not come without some drama, compelling Ukeje to explain why the minister’s presence was very vital to make progress on the investigation.
According to her, Onyeama had already “engaged” the outgoing US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, who made the allegation, on the matter.
She added that in line with diplomatic procedures, it was the minister, who would report to the committee on his engagement with Entwistle.
Ukeje added, “This hearing will hardly proceed in the absence of the minister. He has to brief us on his engagement with the ambassador.
“The US Ambassador has diplomatic immunity. Under the Vienna Convention, he shall not appear before any investigative hearing.
“So, it is the minister, who had engaged the Ambassador, who will brief the committee.
“Without his presence, we will simply postpone the hearing and take a new date.”
Ukeje spoke just as the President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Mr. Malachy Ugbumadu, sought explanations for the absence of the ambassador.
He said he was worried more so that the tenure of Entwistle in Nigeria had ended, noting that the envoy would soon return to the US.
Ugbumadu also observed that the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could have represented the minister so that his absence would not halt proceedings.
Lawmakers still resolved that the absence of the minister was important, sticking to the shift in the hearing to July 20.
However, Ossai added that Onyeama should bring Entwistle along with him, being a key figure in the allegation.
He also noted that the ambassador had indirectly waived his immunity by writing the Speaker of the House, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, directly to make his allegation.
Ossai explained that if the US ambassador wanted to use his diplomatic immunity, he should have first forwarded his allegation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which would in turn write the House formally.
“So, both the ambassador and the minister will come here on July 20 to interact with us”, Ossai ruled.
Garba-Gololo, Gbillah and Ikon were in the US to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Programme on Good Governance organised by the US Government.
The three legislators were members of 10 lawmakers nominated to attend the leadership programme, which took place in Cleveland, Ohio, between April 7 and 13 this year.
While there, they allegedly solicited the services of prostitutes through car park attendants and allegedly molested a female hotel housekeeper.
The allegation was contained in Entwistle’s petition to Dogara.
In the June 9 letter, the US Ambassador stated, “It is with regret that I must bring to your attention the following situation.
“Ten members of the Nigerian National Assembly recently travelled to Cleveland, Ohio, as participants in the International Visitor Leadership Programme on good governance. We received troubling allegations regarding the behaviour of three members of the delegation to the US Government’s flagship professional exchange programme.
“The US Department of State and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs received reports from employees of the Cleveland hotel where the representatives stayed, alleging the representatives engaged in the following behaviour:
“Mohammed Garba-Gololo allegedly grabbed a housekeeper in his hotel room and solicited her for sex. While the housekeeper reported this to her management, this incident could have involved local law enforcement and resulted in legal consequences for Representative Gololo.
“Mark Terseer Gbillah and Samuel Ikon allegedly requested hotel parking attendants to assist them to solicit prostitutes.”
Although the members denied the allegation and threatened legal actions against the US Ambassador to clear their names, the House passed a resolution on June 21, directing the joint Committee on Ethics/Privileges and Foreign Relations to investigate the matter.
The three lawmakers were present at Thursday’s session.
Gbillah came to the hearing in company with his wife and baby.
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