The senator representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, Onyekachi Nwebonyi, Tuesday night explained what led to the shouting match between him and a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili.

Nwebonyi and Ezekwesili had a verbal clash earlier on Tuesday during the Senate Ethics Committee’s hearing on a petition arising from Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual harassment allegations against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

The petition was brought before the committee by its author, Mr Zubairu Yakubu, one of Akpoti-Uduaghan’s constituents, accompanied by his counsel, Dr. Abiola Akinyode, and Ezekwesili, who appeared as a witness.

During the hearing, Ezekwesili and some other attendees refused to take an oath and one of the senators insisted that they either take the oath or the committee would end the meeting.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the Ebonyi senator said it was the ex-minister who started it all by calling him a hooligan and asking him, a serving lawmaker, to shut up.

“It started when she was asked to be an oath because she said she was a witness. She said, ‘no she can’t be on oath, she can’t oath’,” Nwebonyi said.

“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 officer. She turned to me and said, ‘Will you shut up your mouth, you are a hooligan’.”

The lawmaker said he replied to Ezekwesili, “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 added that I am a hooligan.”

Nwebonyi said regardless of what transpired, he has no regret, though he respects Ezekwesili as a woman.

When asked if his response to the former minister was fair, the lawmaker queried why she would treat him in that manner.

“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.

Thereafter, the petition could not proceed as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, Neda Imasuen, ruled that the matter was already a subject of litigation.

Citing Senate rules, Senator Imasuen noted that the practice of the Red Chamber was to desist from entertaining petitions on any matters pending before the court.

Speaking with journalists after the Senate Committee adjourned indefinitely, Ezekwesili accused the Senate of violating the Constitution, maintaining that the Senate rule cited by the Committee was not superior to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“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,” Ezekwesili said.

She argued that the embattled Kogi Central lawmaker, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, was denied fair hearing in clear breach of provisions of the Constitution.

“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,” she said.

The former minister, who insisted that the Senate Committee has shown bias, called for an independent panel to review Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition.

“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,” she said.

She warned that the Senate’s actions could set a dangerous precedent where internal rules override the Constitution.

“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.