Dogara Says Reps Members In Sex Scandal Innocent Until Proven Guilty.

Having failed to keep the allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against three of his colleagues by the US government under cover, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara,in the early hours of Saturday took to social media to comment on the allegations.



A statement issued by his spokesman Turaki Hassan, said the Speaker who responded to questions on the allegations, urged Nigerians to refrain from passing judgment and wait for the outcome of the investigation by the parliament.

According to Dogara,  “judgment can only be passed when an allegation is proven”.

Apparently expressing doubt in the veracity of the claim made by the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle in the petition containing the allegations, the Speaker opined that “as ambassadors of the House and indeed, the entire country, the members in the middle of the scandal would have known not to bring dishonour to the institution they represent”.


He however, vowed that the House would conduct an investigation into the allegations, stating that: “together with the US Embassy in Nigeria, we will get to the bottom of this matter”.


The Speaker further explained that apart from the letter, no evidence had been forwarded to his office, and that there can be no conviction without a trial.

Dogara also disclosed that the lawmakers have given him assurances that they are prepared to defend themselves at their own cost.


Speaking on the attempted rape allegation, Dogara noted that it was not alluded to in the letter he received saying; “We await the result of the investigation into the matter”.


The bubble revealing the scandal had busted following failed attempts by the Speaker’s office to handle the matter in-house by copying each of the affected lawmakers the letter to respond.


However, when the reporter who broke the story got wind of the letter from Lagos, he reached out to the Speaker’s Media Aide who denied it’s existence, not knowing that the reporter already had it in his possession.


Ignorant of his source and directive, the Speaker’s Aide was said to have ?called the reporter’s superiors in Lagos with a view to blocking the story from coming out, only to see him later in the Speaker’s office in company of the House Spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas and Hon. Mark Gbillah who’s one of the accused lawmakers.

culled -independentng.com