Three members of the House of Representatives accused of sexual misconduct during a visit to the United States have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

The decision to acquit the lawmakers followed the recommendations by the joint committee of ethics and privileges and foreign affairs who had investigated the matter.

The United States’ Ambassador to Nigeria, James Entwistle, had written to Speaker Yakubu Dogara, on June 9, alleging that the lawmakers made inappropriate advances towards hotel attendants in the US where they had gone to participate in a US-sponsored leadership training.

The investigative panel recommended that the three lawmakers are cleared “for want of evidence.”

It also recommended that “the Hon Minister of Foreign Affairs do engage with the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, with a view to finding a seamless resolution of the domestic fallout of this unfortunate incident.”

The committee further urged the foreign affairs ministry to “write to remind the United States Embassy of the need to always adopt the official channel of communications in its dealings with any organ or institution of government.”

The recommendation was put to a voice vote by Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, and was unanimously accepted.

The three affected House members, Mohammed Gololo, Mark Gbillah and Samuel Ikon, had denied the allegations and threatened to take legal actions against the US embassy.

The Speaker later referred the matter to a joint committee of Ethics and Privileges, as well as that of foreign affairs, and a hearing was fixed, but the US ambassador failed to attend the hearings to provide evidence of his allegations.