Former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili has said that she is pleased with her encounter with Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi at a Senate Committee panel on Tuesday, March 26, 2025.

Speaking in an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, Ezekwesili stated that this incident exposed what women face in a patriarchal society.

Narrating her side of the exchange 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, there was a heated exchange during panel sitting in Abuja between Senator Nwebonyi and Ezekwesili, the counsel for Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Ezekwesili and Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi represented the Kogi lawmaker before the Senate committee.

The clash that ensued resulted in unprintable name-calling and gender-shaming.

Watch the video below