Oby Ezekwesili, the former minister of education, says she was pleased to meet Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi at a Senate Committee panel on Tuesday because it demonstrated the challenges women face in a patriarchal society.
Ezekwesili narrated her side of the drama on Wednesday on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program, describing the allegations against suspended Kogi Central Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan and Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who had been a subject of sexual harassment allegations before the panel convened.
Relating to Senator’s Recall, Natasha’s lawyer claims Kogi government sponsored it.
The former minister said, “In this society, there is a historic attitude to voice, not just the voice of women, but also those who like me are persistent in demanding public accountability from those who lead an institution that belongs to the society.”
It is a more or less historical function. And so is the behavior of our lawmakers influenced by this attitude. Because of the fact that the rest of society may not be aware of what women endure in many cases but hasn’t given it much thought, I was actually very pleased with what transpired yesterday.
When Ezekwesili and Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, the Akpoti-Uduaghan attorney, contested the Kogi lawmaker before the Senate committee on Tuesday, tempers started to flare at the panel’s Abuja session.
The male lawmaker from Ebonyi North Senatorial District and Ezekwesili engaged in verbal altercation just as the sitting began. Unprintable name-calling and gender-shaming were used in the shouting match.
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Ezekwesili described what transpired during the Senate session on Wednesday, describing what the committee prevented her from saying.
Senator Nedamwem Imasuen, the committee’s leader, should step down, the rights activist claimed, in order to promote justice and fairness, and that he should not do so.
Ezekwesili argued that no matter how strong they may be, no matter how powerful they may be, they should not allow any group or individual to silence the voices of accountability. She also urged the society to demand that the public be accountable for that historical event.
She claimed that Akpoti-Uduaghan, who also alleges sexual harassment against Akpabio, has abandoned the Senate. The Kogi lawmaker must receive justice, according to Ezekwesili.
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“Irresponsible Attitude”
The panel’s attorney, Akiyode-Afolabi, who was sitting alongside the ex-minister on Tuesday, also claimed that the panel’s attitude was inappropriate.
The Senate committee was accused of being hostile by Akiyode-Afolabi, who was also a guest on Wednesday’s Sunrise Daily program on Channels Television. The Senators already had a plan, and they wanted her team to join it, she claimed.
She continued, “The panel’s attitude was not what you would expect from any trustworthy chamber in the world.”
They lacked friendship. They already had a plan, and all they wanted us to do was abide by it. They had a strategy to forbid us from speaking at all.
They spoke to us as though they were speaking to some slaves they had brought with them, which was quite disrespectful.
Source: Channels TV
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