BREAKING: I’m Pleased With My Shouting Match With Nwebonyi – Ezekwesili
Former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, says she is pleased with her encounter with Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi at a Senate Committee panel on Tuesday, saying the episode exposed what women face in a patriarchal society.
Ezekwesili stated this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday when she narrated her side of the drama that unfolded when the panel began sitting over the sexual harassment allegations involving suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central and Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The former minister said, “In this society, there is a historic attitude to voice; not just the voice of women but those who say that they do not agree with a situation or who like me are persistent in demanding public accountability from those that lead an institution that belongs to the society.
“It is a historic more or less function. And so, that attitude pervades the way our lawmakers are behaving. I was actually very pleased with what happened yesterday because now it is in the public domain what women endure in many instances, and the rest of society may know little about it but has not focused on it.”
On Tuesday, tempers flared at the panel sitting in Abuja when Ezekwesili and counsel for Akpoti-Uduaghan, Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, represented the Kogi lawmaker before the Senate committee.
Just as the sitting began, a verbal clash ensued between the male lawmaker from Ebonyi North Senatorial District and Ezekwesili. The shouting match resorted to unprintable name-calling and gender-shaming.
Giving an account of what transpired at the Senate sitting during the television programme on Wednesday, Ezekwesili said the committee did not allow her to speak.
The rights activist accused Senator Nedamwem Imasuen who leads the committee of prejudice and argued that he should step down and not preside over the matter for the sake of justice and fairness.
Ezekwesili said she demanded public accountability at that historical function and that the society should not allow any group or persons no matter how powerful they are to shut the voices of accountability.
She accused the Senate of running away from the main issue of sexual harassment, an allegation levelled by Akpoti-Uduaghan against Akpabio. Ezekwesili insisted that the suspended Kogi lawmaker must get justice.
‘Irresponsible Attitude’
Also, the suspended lawmaker’s lawyer, Akiyode-Afolabi, who was at the Senate sitting alongside the ex-minister on Tuesday, said the attitude of the panel was uncalled for.
Akiyode-Afolabi, who was also a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday, accused the Senate committee of being unfriendly. According to her, the Senators already had a plan and they wanted her team to walk into their plan.
She said, “The attitude of the panel was not what you would expect from any responsible chamber in the world.
“They were not friendly. They already had a plan and what they wanted us to do was just to walk into that plan. They had a plan not to allow us to speak at all.
“They were quite disrespectful and spoke to us as if they were speaking to some slaves that they brought from somewhere.
“One of the things that this is showing at that very high level of people who are making decisions in this country, to have people there who are so patriarchal, who don’t mind the kind of language when speaking to people in public, who don’t give respect to citizens, was not something you would respect.”
