United States Cancels 3 Nigerian Lawmakers Visas for Soliciting for Prostitutes in Cleverland

Photo Credit: thesheet.ng

The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle petitioned the speaker of House of Representative, Hon. Yakubu Dogara in a letter dated June 9, 2016 over the sexual misconduct of three serving lawmakers which includes attempted rape and soliciting for prostitute while on an official trip to the United States in April 2016.

As a result of the troubling allegations from the hotel with claims that one of the ministers sexually harassed their staff by grabbing her in the butt while the other two solicited for prostitutes from their staffs, the United States have officially cancelled the US visas of the three erring ministers.

However, one of the ministers, Mark Gbillah has responded to the sexual allegations. In his response, he claimed that the allegations are completely false, unfounded, malicious and a calculated attempt to cast aspersion to his character and to bring disrepute to Nigeria as a country and its National Assembly. He said that revoking his visa after six days of the accusations without fair hearing and based on hearsay is injustice and he is 'seriously' seeking justice.  

After going through the accusations and counter accusations, I can't help but ask this simple question; what is wrong with Nigerian politicians?  I honestly do not know what to think; are these politicians sexually starved or is it just high libido or perhaps maybe it is an evil they have been dealing with? As much as I would want to believe these men 'might' be sexually starved considering their tight schedules but that does not in any way justify their actions. If found guilty, they should be properly dealt with so that others would learn to respect their position of authority and respect our nation. 

The nation's reputation globally is in shambles and our President has been on a self-imposed damage control mission, trying his best to redeem the image of our beloved country. It is such a shame that lawmakers who are supposed to assist in redeeming its image are the ones further dragging it into the mud.

Besides, majority of Nigerian politicians who have been in bed with diverse sexual allegations are men who are above fifty years of age. If they should prioritize appropriately, sex shouldn't be the most important thing on the list. 

Sexual harassment and attempted rape are serious allegations and the United States will never sweep such allegations under the carpet. As much as I would vote for fair hearing as the law maker requested but deep within me, I feel it will only open more can of worms as the escapades of these Nigerian lawmakers is not a good thing to write home about. Dragging this case, might further bring disrepute to our nation as the United States knows the implications of falsely accusing honourable members of a country. 

I hope this episode will make these 'money mongers' come to the realization that not every citizen of this world is gullible.