Senator Peter Nwebonyi has defended his decision to call former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, a “hooligan” during a heated exchange at a Senate Committee hearing.
Speaking in an interview on Channels TV, Nwebonyi stated that his reaction was prompted by Ezekwesili’s disrespectful remark, where she allegedly told him to “shut up” while he was addressing the committee.
The altercation occurred during a session of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Petitions, which was reviewing a sexual harassment petition filed by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Ezekwesili, appearing as a witness, reportedly refused to take an oath, insisting on giving her testimony on her own terms.
According to Nwebonyi, the situation escalated when he was addressing the presiding officer, and Ezekwesili abruptly interjected, telling him to “shut up.” The senator, clearly agitated, demanded that she withdraw her words, but instead, she called him a “hooligan,” prompting his fiery response.
He said: “I was addressing the presiding officer, the chairman of the committee, when she turned to me and said, ‘Will you shut your mouth?’ I told her, ‘No, ma, withdraw that statement.’ She then repeated, ‘Will you shut your mouth? You’re a hooligan.’ I responded, ‘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 his mouth and then call me a hooligan?’ In fact, I was about to describe her as something else, but let me not use that word. I still respect her as a mother.”
