Oby Ezekwesili Shares Her Account Of What Led To Her Clash With Senator Nwaebonyi

Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili has shared her perspective on the heated exchange she had with Senator Onyekachi Nwaebonyi during a Senate ethics committee hearing.

The confrontation took place on Tuesday during a panel session reviewing a fresh petition from suspended Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

At one point, tensions flared when Ezekwesili told Nwaebonyi, who serves as the Senate’s deputy chief whip, to “shut up.”

In his response, Nwaebonyi made controversial remarks, calling Ezekwesili a “ fool,” “hooligan” and an “insult to womanhood.”

Speaking in an interview with Arise TV, Ezekwesili explained that the Senate panel had declared the matter sub judice, meaning it was already before the court and could not be discussed in the hearing.

She recounted that the petitioner, Natasha Akpoti, was reluctant to proceed until concerns about the case’s handling were addressed.

However, the panel took this stance as an unwillingness to engage and decided to halt proceedings.

“The petitioner had insisted that he would not proceed with his main petition until he received assurances regarding the two objections he had raised,” Ezekwesili said.

“However, the panel interpreted this stance as a sign that we were not ready to engage in the matter.

“Then, suddenly, they also argued that the case was sub judice because there were two related cases in court.

“They mentioned the case filed by the wife of the senate president and suggested that, based on that, proceedings should not continue.”

During the back-and-forth, Ezekwesili said Nwaebonyi spoke up, claiming he was there to represent the Senate President and was ready to speak on his behalf.

This, the former minister pointed out, contradicted the committee’s earlier claim that no one else could speak.

She said, “At that point, Dr. Abiola questioned the very basis for convening the jury. While all of this was unfolding, a certain senator –whom I will not acknowledge by name — spoke up (referring to Nwaebonyi).

“He declared that since we were unwilling to provide any testimony, he was present as a representative of the senate president, who was the respondent, and that he was prepared to speak because, in his view, we could not continue in this manner.

“In response, ‘I said to him, can you please shut up?’ because we had just been informed that we were not allowed to speak, yet he was doing so freely without any form of an equivalent treatment.”

She added that Nwaebonyi was already agitated and took offense at her remark, despite the fact that, in her view, he was the one disregarding the rules set by the panel.

“The justification for silencing us was that we were unwilling to proceed without first addressing our objections.

“When I told him to be quiet and that remark provoked the senator, though he was already agitated.

“He was already provoked, his anger stemmed from the belief that we were not taking the matter seriously,” she said.

Ezekwesili added that Nwaebonyi’s reaction was an example of the “indecorous behavior” often displayed by some public officials in Nigeria.

KanyiDaily recalls that Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja had stepped down from the case involving Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against Godswill Akabio.