Senator Bukar Ibrahim reacts to Sahara reporters leaked video

Yobe Senator caught in leaked video with two

women speaks

A Nigerian senator has owned up to a scandalous

video that showed him dressing up in the

presence of two women in a room, presumably

after sex.

But Bukar Ibrahim, representing Yobe East

Senatorial District, told PREMIUM TIMES in his

first interview since the scandal broke that he

had not committed any official wrongdoing and

the video was only made public after attempts to

blackmail him failed.

“This is a personal, private matter. What does

my having been with a girl have to do with the

public?

“You know the normal thing: people ask for

unreasonable things, and if you deny them, they

try to blackmail you if they have a way,”

Mr. Ibrahim, a former governor of Yobe State,

said Monday afternoon.

Sahara Reporters published the video on the

Internet Sunday, and it quickly caught online

frenzy.

The footage, roughly two minutes long, showed

Mr. Ibrahim reaching for his underwear,

apparently after emerging from the shower.

In the room, one of the two women in the video

held a device that was capturing the activities;

while the other strolled about. But none of them

was stripped like Mr. Ibrahim.

Mr. Ibrahim said he couldn’t remember where or

when sexual activities took place, but the room

appeared like a typical motel accommodation.

The senator said he owed no one an explanation

since he was not accused of any crime.

“If they say I raped, that’s a different matter

altogether,” Mr. Ibrahim said. “Is it because I am

a public official then I am not supposed to be

entitled to private life?”

The senator said he knew when one of the women

was filming him, but was told it was only for fun

and they also wanted to illuminate the room with a

camera.

“They just mentioned it to me as a joke and I

took it as nothing really serious,” he said. “This

is something that happened between two adults.”

Mr. Ibrahim, who signed a controversial Sharia law

while in office as governor, nonetheless, said he

will investigate the matter.

“I have commenced investigations to find out

why it is circulating,” the senator said. “But from

all indications, it is a blackmail.”

The latest scandal underscores growing cases of

indiscretion amongst Nigerian lawmakers.

It comes barely a year after a former U.S.

Ambassador to Nigeria accused three members

of the House of Representatives of sexual

misconduct.

James Entwistle, who left Nigeria last August,

said in a petition to Speaker Yakubu Dogara that

the lawmakers solicited sex from prostitutes and

hotel workers during a leadership training

assignment in Ohio, midwestern United States.

In his petition, which was published by New

Telegraph in Lagos, Mr. Entwistle said he had

evidence to nail Mohammed Galolo, Samuel Ikon

and Mark Gbillah of the sexual offences.

But the lawmakers denied the allegations and

added their voice to the growing calls for a

thorough investigation at the time

The House later cleared the trio following an

internal investigation by its Ethics and Privileges

Committee. Mr. Entwistle declined an invitation

to testify before the committee.

Samuel Anyawu, Chairman of Senate Ethics

Committee, told PREMIUM TIMES he had not

been fully briefed on the viral video of Mr.

Ibrahim, but said he would wait until the entire

Senate gives him instruction on how to proceed.

“I am not fully aware of what transpired,” Mr.

Anyawu, representing Imo East Senatorial

District, said Monday. “I will wait for the Senate

to give direction on how to proceed, if at all.”

A Lagos-based lawyer, Liborous Oshoma, said

the latest scandal further corroborates

longstanding public perception of Nigerian

politics and politicians.

“In Nigeria, the more honourable or distinguished

you become, the less honourable or distinguished

your behaviour becomes,” Mr. Oshoma said in an

apparent mockery of House members and

Senators who prefer to be addressed as

‘honourables’ and ‘distinguished’, respectively.

“This is what our politics and politicians have

been associated with for decades —female

politicians drinking and attending late night

events with male politicians who cannot do

without sleeping with women that are not their

wives,” Mr. Oshoma said.

“So, if one is coming to the public light right

now, it just goes to buttress what everyone has

always known.”

Mr. Oshoma said Nigerians would expect no

serious outcome from the Senate, even if the

body conducts an investigation into the latest

scandal.

“We have enough issues on our hands to begin

to discuss a Senator with illicit affairs,” Mr.

Oshoma said. “Let the Senators deal with the

issues surrounding our ailing president and take

Nigeria out of the current crisis.”