Reps members pick lawyers for $1bn suit against the United States over sex scandal allegation

Three members of the House of Representatives exonerated of sexual misconduct allegations levelled against them by the United States Embassy in Nigeria have picked lawyers to handle their $1billion suit against the US government.

According to Sunday Punch, the lawyers are to file the suit in the US, while the lawmakers will continue to communicate with them through electronic means from Nigeria, since they are barred for now from entering the US.

The affected members are House Deputy Chairman, Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream); Mr. Terse Mark-Gbillah, elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in  Benue; Mr. Samuel Ikon of the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom; and Mr. Mohammed Garba-Gololo, also of the  APC in  Bauchi State.

A former US ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. James Entwistle, had accused the three of sexual misconduct during a visit to the US last year April, prompting the Nigerian legislature to call for an investigation.

The House exonerated the lawmakers in October 2016 after a report by its Joint Committees on Ethics/Privileges and Foreign Relations, found no wrongdoing on their part.

Mark-Gbillah, who spoke for the lawmakers, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the lawyers had been identified and that efforts were on to finalise consultations on the suit.

He neither gave the names of the lawyers nor the firms from where they would be hired.