•Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi and Dr Oby Ezekwesili
The lawmaker representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, has narrated what transpired at the Senate Ethics Committee’s hearing.
Yesterday, Nwebonyi had a verbal clash with former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili in Abuja as the committee began proceeding into the sexual harassment allegations involving suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central and Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Tensions flared when Nwaebonyi resorted to derogatory remarks, labelling Ezekwesili an ‘insult to womanhood’ and a ‘hooligan.’
But speaking during an interview on Channels Television, the senator berated the ex-minister for first calling him a hooligan and asking him, a serving lawmaker, to shut up.
He said, “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.’
“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.”
According to the Ebonyi lawmaker, he replied 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.”
Nwebonyi said regardless of what transpired, he has no regret, though he respects Ezekwesili as a woman.
When asked if his response to the former minister was fair, the lawmaker queried why she would treat him in that manner.
“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.
