‘She told me to shut up’ — Nwaebonyi explains why he exchanged words with Ezekwesili at senate panel hearing

Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, senator representing Ebonyi north, has explained the events that led to his altercation with Oby Ezekwesili, former minister of education, during the senate ethics committee hearing.

On Tuesday, Nwaebonyi and Ezekwesili traded words during the senate panel hearing on a fresh petition submitted by Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the suspended senator representing Kogi central.

The confrontation became intense as Nwaebonyi, the deputy chief whip of the senate, described Ezekwesili as an “insult to womanhood” and a “hooligan”.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, the lawmaker criticised the former minister for first calling him a “hooligan” and ordering a serving senator to “shut up”.

“It started when she was asked to be on oath because she said she was a witness. She said, ‘no she can’t be on oath, she can’t oath,” Nwaebonyi narrated.

“As a person, I said I am willing to be sworn on oath so that I can give my own evidence. I was addressing the presiding office. She turned to me and said, “Will you shut up your mouth, you are a hooligan.”

The Ebonyi lawmaker said he replied to Ezekwesili, saying, “you are the hooligan. For a mother like you, a grandmother of your age, a former minister of the federal republic, to tell a sitting senator to shut up his mouth and added that I am a hooligan.”

The deputy chief whip also said he has no regrets about the incident and still respects Ezekwesili as a woman despite all that transpired.

Responding to whether his reaction to the former minister was fair, the lawmaker questioned why she behaved that way towards him in the first place.

“How can I regret the scenario? I gave it to her. Is it fair for her to address me that way? As a former minister of the federal republic and a grandmother, ask her first,” he added.

However, the heated exchange disrupted the session before order was eventually restored.

Following the incident, Neda Imasuen, chairman of the senate committee on ethics, announced that the case is before a court of law, leading to an abrupt end to the hearing.