* Pic 1: Dr Oby Ezekwesili
* Pic 2: Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi
By Pathfinder Reporter
Wednesday March 26, 2025
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On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions threw out Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition, saying the matter was already a subject of litigation.
The petition was written by Mr Zubairu Yakubu, one of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s constituents.
Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi (APC – Ebonyi South) and a former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, clashed over the handling of the sexual harassment allegations.
Dr Ezekwesili, a witness, had accompanied Yakubu, who appeared before the Senate Committee, to defend the petition.
A war of words ensued between Nwebonyi and the former minister, who complained about how the allegation was being handled by senators.
However, the Committee ruled that it could not sit on the petition, given a pending case filed against Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan by Dr. Unoma Akpabio, wife of the Senate President.
Citing Senate Rules, Senator Imasuen noted that the practice of the Senate was to desist from entertaining petitions on any matters pending before the court.
During the proceedings, tension rose as Nwebonyi described Dr Ezekwesili as an ‘insult to womanhood’ and a ‘hooligan.’
The senator’s remarks followed the refusal of Dr Ezekwesili and other attendees to take an oath during the hearing.
While one of the senators insisted that either they take the oath or the committee would end the meeting, Dr Ezekwesili and her colleagues insisted on not taking the oath, during which Nwebonyi became angry.
He said: “You are an insult to womanhood, hooligan. People like you are not supposed to be here, hooligan. You are an insult to womanhood.” Ezekwesili, who later spoke with reporters, accused the Senate of violating the Constitution, adding that the Senate Rule cited by the committee was not superior to the Constitution.
She said: “The Nigerian Senate keeps telling citizens they are subject to Senate rules, even when those rules violate the Constitution. This is unacceptable in a democracy.”
She argued that the embattled Kogi Central lawmaker was denied a fair hearing, insisting that it is in clear breach of provisions of the Constitution.
Dr Ezekwesili added: “The Senate placed its own rules above the laws of the land. Now, with this petitioner, they have done the same thing—using procedural loopholes to avoid addressing critical issues
“If a petitioner says they do not believe the Senate committee will give them a fair hearing due to clear bias, it is only just that an independent body reviews the matter.
“The Senate must respect the Constitution. Otherwise, we risk turning our democracy into a system where powerful individuals manipulate processes to silence opposition and suppress justice,” she said.
However, Dr Ezekwesili and Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, speaking in an interview on Arise TV on Tuesday, gave reasons for attacking each other.
* ‘I won’t acknowledge him by name’ – Ezekwesili
“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.
“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 equivalent treatment.
“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.”
Ezekwesili added that Nwaebonyi’s reaction reflected the “indecorous behavior” of some public officials in the country.
The Ebonyi lawmaker had criticized the former minister for first calling him a “hooligan” and ordering a serving senator to “shut up.”
The deputy chief whip also said he has no regrets about the incident and still respects Ezekwesili as a woman despite all that transpired.
* She told me to shut up — Nwaebonyi
Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, senator representing Ebonyi North, has explained the events that led to his altercation with Oby Ezekwesili, former minister of education, during the senate ethics committee hearing.
On Tuesday, Nwaebonyi and Ezekwesili traded words during the senate panel hearing on a fresh petition submitted by Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the suspended senator representing Kogi Central.
The confrontation became intense as Nwaebonyi, the deputy chief whip of the senate, described Ezekwesili as an “insult to womanhood” and a “hooligan”.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today program, the lawmaker criticized the former minister for first calling him a “hooligan” and ordering a serving senator to “shut up.”
“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,” Nwaebonyi narrated.
“As a person, I said I am willing to be sworn on oath so that I can give my evidence. I was addressing the presiding officer. She turned to me and said, “Will you shut up your mouth, you are a hooligan.”
The Ebonyi lawmaker said he replied to 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 add that I am a hooligan.”
The deputy chief whip also said he has no regrets about the incident and still respects Ezekwesili as a woman despite all that transpired.
Responding to whether his reaction to the former minister was fair, the lawmaker questioned why she behaved that way towards him in the first place.
“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.
However, the heated exchange disrupted the session before order was eventually restored.
Following the incident, Neda Imasuen, chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, announced that the case was before a court of law, leading to an abrupt end to the hearing.
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