House Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Mr. Terse Mark Gbillah (Benue); Mr Samuel Ikon (Akwa Ibom) and Mr Mohammed Garba-Gololo (Bauchi), who were facing charges of raping a hotel staff and soliciting prostitutes during an official visit in the US have been cleared of all sexual allegations.
The case, which was levelled against them by the United States Government, after they were accused by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle, prompted the Nigerian legislature to call for an investigation into the matter.
They were exonerated after careful investigation of the case and a report from the Joint Committees on Ethnics/Privileges and Foreign Relations found them to be innocent of the accusations.
The three lawmakers have decided to take legal action against the US government for defamation of their reputation both internationally and in the country. They also claim that their visas were cancelled and their family members affected as a result of the allegations.
According to Mark Gbillah, “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. 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 Marriott 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 employees to court. We are going to be taking the local organizers 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 $1billion. Already contacts have been made with various lawfirms in the US. We want to use a very reputable lawfirm.”