Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, who represents Ebonyi North Senatorial District, has spoken about his verbal confrontation with Oby Ezekwesili, the former Minister of this Education.
It was reported that the duo clashed on Tuesday during the Ethics Committee hearing on sexual harassment allegations involving the suspended Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, and the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio.
During the altercation, as captured in a viral video, Senator Nwebonyi could be heard telling Dr Ezekwesili, “You are an insult to womanhood; you are a disgrace to womanhood. People like you can never be here.”
Addressing the matter in an interview on Channels TV, Senator Nwebonyi said he was angered by Dr Ezekwesili’s comment, in which she allegedly called him a hooligan.
According to the lawmaker: “It started when she was to take an oath because she claimed to be a witness, but she refused to be sworn in.
“I then said I was willing to take an oath so that I could give my own evidence. I was addressing the presiding officer, the chairman of the committee, when she turned to me and said, ‘Will you shut up your mouth?’
“A sitting senator? In the Senate? That I should shut up my mouth? I said, ‘No, ma, withdraw that statement.’ But she repeated, ‘Will you shut up your mouth? You are a hooligan.’ I responded, ‘You are the hooligan.’
“For a mother like you, a former minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to tell a senator to shut up his mouth and even call him a hooligan? Then you are the hooligan.”