Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi of Ebonyi North senatorial district has insisted he has no regret for hurling insults at former education minister Oby Ezekwesili in a committee hearing on Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual assault claim and suspension that degenerated into an explosive shouting match between the duo.
Speaking on Channels TV Tuesday night, Mr Nwebonyi, 43, explained that Mrs Ezekwesili, 62, attacked him first when she interrupted him mid-speech and asked him to “shut up.”
He was infuriated and called her “a fool.”
“You’re a fool. What do you mean? Why are you talking to me like that? I will not take it. You’re an insult to womanhood. People like you cannot be here,” Mr Nwaebonyi fired back.
Mrs Ezekwesili, in turn, called him a “hooligan.”
According to the Ebonyi lawmaker who appeared for Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the mediators were asked to give their statements on oath before the Senate Ethics Committee, but Mrs Ezekwesili declined.
“It started when she was asked to be on oath because she said she was a witness,” said Mr Nwaebonyi. “She said no, she can’t be on oath; she can’t oath (sic).”
Mr Nwaebonyi, on the other hand, welcomed the idea of speaking on oath, a move he claimed incensed the former minister and caused her to lash out.
“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,” stated the senator. “She turned to me and said, ‘Will you shut up your mouth? You are a hooligan!’”
Mr Nwebonyi said he did not allow the insults to simmer before firing back at the former minister.
“You are the hooligan! For a mother like you, a grandmother of your age, a former minister of the Federal Republic (of Nigeria), to tell a sitting senator to shut up his mouth and add that I am a hooligan,” the lawmaker said.
When asked if he had any regrets about the altercation, which has since gone viral, the senator stood by his response.
He acknowledged it was unfortunate the mediation degenerated to that extent but maintained that Mrs Ezekwesili was the first person to disrespect him, and he “gave it to her.”
“How can I regret the scenario?” Mr Nwebonyi said. “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.”
