Ebonyi North Senator, Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, has explained his verbal altercation with former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, during Tuesday’s Senate Ethics Committee hearing.
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The clash occurred as the committee began proceedings on the sexual harassment allegations involving suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, and Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
During the session, tensions escalated when Nwaebonyi exchanged heated words with Ezekwesili, calling her an “insult to womanhood” and a “hooligan.” However, speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Nwaebonyi claimed Ezekwesili provoked him by first calling him a “hooligan” and telling him to “shut up.”
“It started when she was asked to take an oath because she said she was a witness,” Nwaebonyi recounted. “She refused, saying she couldn’t take an oath. Meanwhile, I willingly agreed to be sworn in so I could give my evidence. While I was addressing the presiding officer, she turned to me and said, ‘Will you shut up your mouth? You are a hooligan.’”
The senator said he immediately responded, telling Ezekwesili, “You are the hooligan. For a mother like you, a grandmother of your age, and a former minister of the Federal Republic to tell a sitting senator to shut up and call me a hooligan—it’s unacceptable.”
Despite the heated exchange, Nwaebonyi insisted that he has no regrets about his reaction, though he claimed to respect Ezekwesili as a woman.
“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 said.
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