Nigerian politicians, other public servants truly visit the U.S. to have sex

James Entwhistle's memo accused Mohammed Garba Gololo of
James Entwhistle’s memo accused Mohammed Garba Gololo of “allegedly grabbing a housekeeper in his hotel room and soliciting her for sex”, while Mark Terseer Gbillah and Samuel Ikon “allegedly requesting hotel parking attendants to assist them with prostitutes”.
By Anthony Obi Ogbo
By Dr. Anthony Obi Ogbo

The group of Nigerian politicians accused of both groping a hotel attendant, and trying to solicit prostitutes that might of been working at websites similar to www.tubev.sex at the time, while visiting the United States have threatened to sue the United States embassy for reporting the alleged incidents. However, these disgraceful conducts are not new, and are very familiar with most visiting Nigerian public officers.

U.S. Envoy James Entwhistle had written a letter, that three of the 10-man delegation to a good governance exchange program in Cleveland, Ohio, had allegedly been involved in behavior that “left a very negative impression of Nigeria”. His memo accused Mohammed Garba Gololo of “allegedly grabbing a housekeeper in his hotel room and soliciting her for sex”, while Mark Terseer Gbillah and Samuel Ikon “allegedly requesting hotel parking attendants to assist them with prostitutes”. But the three politicians blatantly denied the accusations, asking for both a retraction and apology.

But the truth be told, that most Nigeria public officers, especially their lawmakers actually visit the United States to have sex. They must have seen some of the videos on somewhere like www.hdmmovies.xxx and decided that they want a piece of that themselves. I am not going to beat around the bush on this issue, but would present myself as a witness that these folks, when they visit, pay the least attention to their official duties while they spend most times wandering with hired prostitutes having sex; shopping the malls, and hopping from restaurants to bars in the most disgraceful manner.

Responsible members of parliament who attend governance programs could at least come back, armed with the skills on translating their trainings into strategies to deliver public service excellence. They could be talking about relevant tools of effective governance and how to strategically apply them to their daily official tasks. Unfortunately and most disappointedly, this is not what the world is hearing. What we are here talking about is prostitution; some sex-hungry public officers holding their crotches and walking around the parking lots looking for where to buy sex. Here we are, debating irresponsible house members flirting with janitors and groping hotel room attendants – the same behaviors they get away with in Nigeria. Maybe what they should have done is stay in their hotel rooms gone online and visitied https://www.nu-bay.com/categories/557/masturbation and watch some adult movies instead, far better behaviour for a visiting dignitary

The whole story stinks, when in total disgrace of their office and constituents, some Nigerian lawmakers and other public officers retain pricey escorts (prostitutes) in different foreign cities through Nigerian cab and limousine drivers who coordinate the trade. In 2015, a Nigerian married woman who claimed she escaped a rape encounter from a Nigerian visiting dignitary, accused a Nigerian limousine driver of luring her to the hotel (Holiday Inn Express, Room 204, on Southwest Freeway) where the incident took place. She accused the limousine driver (name withheld at this time) of blackmailing women and luring them to sleep with visiting Nigeria dignitaries.

A local prostitute once walked into a local Houston store with some traveler’s check asking the clerk if they were real money. She was upset that one of her “honorable” visiting Nigerian customers paid her with travelers’ check because he ran out of dollar bills. These are just a few out of many horrible stories about Nigeria public officers who visit the United States to disgrace their country.

A local prostitute once walked into a local Houston store with some traveler’s check asking the clerk if they were real money. She was upset that one of her “honorable” visiting Nigerian customers paid her with travelers’ check because he ran out of dollar bills. These are just a few out of many horrible stories about Nigeria public officers who visit the United States to disgrace their country.

I am not finished. It may also interest the world to know that a former Nigerian president while in office has agents in Houston and Atlanta who supplied him with prostitutes whenever he visited. Same period, a member of the National Assembly who in fact, heads a committee connected to oil and gas once took an escort from Houston to Nigeria with a marriage proposal. The escort claimed the lawmaker “abandoned” her in Benin while he was in Abuja doing other women. She came back to Houston with a large monetary compensation, and told International Guardian, “I’m happy with the settlement, so I had to let that slide.”

In Houston, Texas where people from all over the world visit every May for the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), the rate of delegates who indulge in sex with prostitutes got so disgraceful that the Harris County Sheriff’s Office issued a warning and threatened to prosecute any delegate caught buying or selling sex. Some Nigeria delegates to this conference are also notoriously known for using cab and limousine drivers to shop prostitutes. Some escorts even brag about contact lists of their customers from Nigerian, mostly top government officials and politicians.

Therefore, the incidents at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel sounds very familiar. The accused officials are strongly denying the allegations. One of them, Mr Gbillah, dismissed the allegations as baseless attempt to tarnish the reputation of Nigeria’s House of Representatives. But the big question would be why anybody in a Hotel in Cleveland would want to tarnish the reputation of Nigeria’s House of Representatives? We are not talking ISIS or Boko Haram but supposedly honorable members of House of Representatives.

I am glad that our honorable parliamentary members involved in this scandal attended governance programs. If they paid adequate attention in their classes or conferences, they could have learnt that one of principles of good governance is taking responsibility. It simply means that rather than suffuse the social media with excuses about their irresponsible behaviors, they could own up, apologize to their country and their constituents, and resign from their offices. Furthermore, these cases would rightly serve as a good lesson to arrogant and irresponsible public officers unfamiliar with the system in foreign lands.

Dr. Ogbo is the publisher of Houston-based International Guardian.

Nigerian lawmakers should sue the Americans if they are bold enough

The Cable – Last week, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria accused three Nigerian lawmakers of bad behaviour. In a strongly worded letter, James Entwistle accused Samuel Ikon (PDP, Akwa Ibom), Mohammed Gololo (APC, Bauchi) and Mark Gbillah (APC, Benue) of various sexual misconducts, while they visited the U.S. state of Ohio as participants for the International Visitor Leadership Programme.

The ambassador made these allegations on behalf of the hotel the lawmakers were lodged in Cleveland. For Gololo, the ambassador accused him of grabbing a housekeeper in his hotel room and soliciting for sex, while Ikon and Gbillah were accused of soliciting the assistance of a hotel park attendant to help get prostitutes.

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t have made headlines in any of Nigeria’s gossip magazines. But, the Americans are taking these accusations very seriously – actually all civilized countries do – they have even said it might affect the future of the well-intentioned leadership programme, the accused lawmakers attended, which is designed to benefit Nigerians.

The ambassador did not mince words in describing how these allegations have cast Nigeria and its Parliament in a bad light. And this is where it affects every Nigerian.

All three Parliamentarians have denied these allegations. Honorable Gbillah has threatened to demand compensation for such defamation of character, while Gololo has demanded for evidence from the Americans to substantiate their claim.

This is where it gets interesting. I have no doubt in my mind that the Americans knew the implications of the allegations they made. The U.S. Missions abroad have strong legal teams which peruse such letters before it is sent out. They know the implications of law suits – mainly those involving a deformation of character.

Part of the ambassador’s letter read: ‘’The U.S. Mission took pains to confirm these allegations and the identities of the individuals with the employees of the hotel in Cleveland’’.

From the tone of James Entwistle’s letter, I doubt if the Americans are going to press any charges. The letter looked more like a warning.

But, one of the accused lawmakers says he is a family man and such allegation could cause an irreparable damage to his family. This is true, but will he be courageous enough to sue. I doubt.

Some lawmakers believe that this was a calculated attempt to rubbish the National Assembly. Wow! This is enough reason for the whole Parliament to instigate a class action, but they might not.

If the accused lawmakers sue, they might become billionaires if they win. And you can only sue if you are sure you are innocent because you might never know if the Americans have other electronic evidence. You never know. Little wonder, one accused lawmaker demanded for a video evidence. You need not demand for such evidence, all you need to do is to sue.

One lawmaker queried if the Americans could treat their congressmen the way they were treating these accused Nigerian lawmakers. The answer is a simple YES. They even treated Dominque Straus Khan, a former IMF boss, like that. So, that question is immaterial at this moment.

The Americans have even attempted to impeach a former President because of these kind of allegations. Of course, such allegations, or even act, will never lead to a big man’s impeachment in Nigeria – this is why some people believe Nigeria is still the best place to live – you can get away with murder in Nigeria.

If it turns out that these allegations are false, it might have resulted in a stigma that cannot be removed. This is why I employ the whole National Assembly to sue, if they are bold enough.

Of course, if the accused lawmakers decide to allow these accusations die a natural death in Nigeria, it might not in America. They might be denied entry into America in future (some reports say their visas have been cancelled) or be asked to answer to charges anytime they enter America. Since America is not like Nigeria, I urge the lawmakers to sue and make sure this is ironed out. It will be a shame if they decide to play the ostrich- sometimes Nigerian politicians threaten to sue, but don’t

Some Nigerians have been accused of this kind of offence in the U.S. A recent example is Timaya’s story. Timaya, one of Nigerian’s musical sensation, denied that he raped the lady, who accused him of rape, arguing that they were both consenting adults.

Well, I understand some of these accusations could be settled amicably. I suspect Timaya has followed that route. For our lawmakers, I only pray and hope their case is that of ‘mistaken identities’. These allegations are really damaging to the country and to the individuals involved.

There are many lessons to be learnt here, but the most important one is this: if you are a public officer, representing Nigeria abroad, you should know that it is not everything you do in Nigeria that you can do abroad. Though you might argue that some people in your host country get away with these things, you might not know how they do them and get away because you are just ‘’a new kid on the block’’.

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