Senator Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, who represents Ebonyi North, claims that he is ranked higher than Oby Ezekwesili due to “stratification.”
He also apologised to former Education Minister Ezekwesili for his remarks at Tuesday’s Senate ethics committee meeting.
During the Senate panel hearing on a new appeal filed by suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central, Nwaebonyi and Ezekwesili exchanged heated words.
The scenario turned confrontational when the former minister asked Nwaebonyi to cease speaking during the panel hearing.
The former minister had previously been attacked by the Ebonyi lawmaker for calling him a “hooligan” and telling a sitting senator to “shut up.”
Considering Ezekwesili’s age, the deputy chief whip of the senate acknowledged in an appearance on Arise TV that his comments were improper.
Under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the 61-year-old politician was the minister of education and the minister of solid minerals.
“I must also say that I regret my choice of words towards her. She is old enough to be my mother,” Nwaebonyi said.
Nwaebonyi defended his track record of promoting women in politics when asked if such occurrences discourage women from entering the political sphere.
“I’m one of those senators that has been supporting women’s emancipation and participation in politics,” he said.
“Respect is earned, not commanded. If you respect me, I respect you. If you yab me, I yab you.
“I am a senator of the Federal Republic by social stratification, I am higher than her in this country.
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“She is supposed to respect me. She was a minister, but a senator is more senior than a minister.
“Respect is earned. She had no right to speak to me in that manner, telling me to shut up. That was immature.
“She got to her level by accident. But since she has now admitted publicly that she told me to shut up, I commend her for that.”
Ezekwesili said late Tuesday that he had told the legislator to cease talking after the panel had stopped them.
Nwaebonyi’s response, she continued, was indicative of the “indecorous behaviour” of certain public officials in the nation.
