For over five decades, 75-year-old Oladimeji Lawal has spent his days pedalling through the Lagos Island area of Lagos State, selling ice cream to generations of schoolchildren and passersby.

With no pension, no retirement plan, and no company benefits, his livelihood has been tied to the wheels of his bicycle, which is his only means of survival.

At 75, while many of his age mates have long retired, Pa Lawal still rises each morning, mounts his ageing bicycle, and navigates the ever-busy streets, hoping to sell enough to get by.

For the septuagenarian, his recognition is largely confined to the streets of Lagos Island, where loyal customers rely on him as their go-to ice cream vendor. But beyond this community, his story seems almost unimaginable to those who have never encountered him.

This was the reality after an X user shared his picture recently with a surprising revelation that he had spent 57 years as an ice cream vendor.

Pa Lawal soon after the post became an internet sensation as netizens reacted in awe while some attested to this, sharing their encounter with him as far back as three decades ago.

Lawal would later bare it all during an audience with our correspondent, who, after frantic efforts to locate him in the community, eventually saw him on Okesuna Street, slightly hunched over his bicycle as he pedalled gently towards the end of the street.

Speaking in a calm voice tinged with nostalgia, Lawal, who is otherwise referred to as Felele and Pandy Joe, said he had sold Ice Cream to three generations of customers in Lagos Island.

“I have sold ice cream to two to three generations of customers. There are students whose parents bought from me when they were young, and now those same parents tell their children that I once carried them in my arms here in Lagos Island,” he said with pride.

On how his journey started on two wheels, he said, “I was born in Ibadan on July 22, 1950. I attended St. Patrick’s School in Abebi, but I only made it to Form 6 before I had to look for a job. That was how I met one Mrs. Babalola, who needed a cycle boy for her ice cream business. This was in 1968. She tested me by giving me a bicycle to ride, and when I rode it perfectly, she gave me the job. I worked on commission.”

One day, while making his rounds on the streets of Ibadan, Lawal had an accident that left him hospitalised for days.

When he recovered, some of his regular customers who visited Ibadan only during holidays advised him to move to Lagos, where the business was more profitable and less stressful.

He said, “When I got to Lagos in 1969 through one Mama Yemisi and her husband here on Lagos Island, they took me to an agent who supplies Ice Cream on Odunlami Street and stood as a guarantor for me. I spent five years there and left after the business no longer operated. So after that, I worked for another company supplying ice creams in Obalende till 1976.”

According to him, selling ice cream back then was lucrative, as he made as much as one pound and ten shillings daily.

Meanwhile, Lawal had no intention of staying long as an ice cream vendor other than to save up and become independent.

“When I moved to Lagos, there were many sales. I saw another job offer that was ready to pay well, but I turned it down. Meanwhile, I also had a plan to save up some money to get a car and go into the transport business, but I got so attached to the work that I never thought of leaving it. Also, the money I was seeing then was sustaining me,” he admitted.

Years passed, and the community evolved, and so did the ice cream business. The profits dwindled and the job became more strenuous.

This was also not without some form of regret for Lawal, as he lamented how it was late before he realised that the work he was so attached to and had sustained him over the decades did not have a retirement benefit.

He said, “ It was very late before I realised that there were no retirement benefits in this job. It happened when one of my customers saw me one day and jokingly asked when I was going to retire from this work. I was over 50 years old then, and that was when the reality hit me. I have been so much into the work that mine is just to get supplies, sell and get my commission. Of course, I replied to him and said there was no retirement on the work and that this was because it was not the company that employed me directly.  The agents are the ones engaging us. By this time, the business was not what it used to be.

“Around 1986, the business was no longer as profitable as it used to be. At this point, I was gradually losing interest in the work, but I still stayed because I didn’t see any other job. I once thought of becoming an agent too, but the capital wasn’t commensurate with my earnings and savings. You will have to rent a shop, buy a freezer and other things that are needed to start up as an agent. “

By then, he already had rented an apartment in Maroko, and with careful savings, he bought a half-plot of land which he claimed was his first step toward stability.

The land in Maroko was meant to be his future, his retirement plan. He had saved diligently, buying a tipper of gravel for N90 to start construction. But in 1990, everything changed.

“The then-military administrator, Raji Rasaki, demolished the entire Maroko community. It was a day of anguish. I stood there, watching my land disappear. Back then, people didn’t talk much about Certificates of Occupancy (CofO); we just bought land and built on it. I didn’t know about it, so when the government announced that only those with CofOs would be relocated to a low-cost housing estate, I realized I had lost everything. What I had worked and saved for was gone. There was nothing I could do. Although I thank God I had not started to build on it because that would have taken my life.”

With his dream of having a property to call his own shattered with no safety net. Lawal immediately forgot the idea of retirement and had no choice but to keep pedalling.

“There was no way I could save up since then, because of commitments to the family. I also tried to seek help, but people only promised but didn’t fulfil their promises. I sold ice cream to some prominent people while they were still in school. At one point, some of them, including Princess Oyekan and one Mama Jide, contributed money to buy me a new bicycle when my old one was falling apart. I don’t want to find myself in a situation where I would be begging. So I continued my work and made the necessary provision for my family as much as I could.”

The situation of Lawal had drawn sympathy from people who knew his plight as they reached out to him and offered to help him get some benefits they felt he deserved from the Ice Cream company he works for.

Lawal, who did not oblige to such an offer, said, “I told them not to bother and that nothing was likely to come out of it because I wasn’t employed directly by the company. The only benefit I get from them is the raincoat they give us during the rainy season. And this is after the agents must have requested it from them. And the last time we were given such was about ten years ago. They used to repair our bicycles for us, but not any longer.”

At 74, Pa Lawal still pedals the streets of Lagos Island, though not as vigorously as before. His body isn’t as strong, and he takes breaks more often.

He also hoped for something more, as he desired to have a shop of his own where he would store his supplies as a form of retirement.

“I  need money to open a small shop where I can store my own ice creams and soft drinks. That way, I won’t have to ride around so much. I could still move around for about two hours daily, taking products to school, but not for long hours like before. If I don’t ride my bicycle for a day, I feel weak. My body is already used to it.”

In the past five decades, during the good and the bad times, Lawal’s routine remained unchanged.

“I wake up at 8 a.m., get my supplies by 9 a.m., then go around some parts of Lagos Island before heading to schools, where I sell when students close for the day. If I have leftover products, I go around the community to sell them and close by 6 p.m.,” he revealed.

Beyond the trajectory of his work, Lagos Island became more than just a workplace for Pa Lawal—it became home.

“I met my wife here and married her in 1985. She had children for me, but she passed away five years ago. I have another wife in Ibadan. My children are doing their best, but I refuse to be a burden. I tell them not to give me money that will affect their livelihood, because they are also managing. 

While he sees some of his agemates who have built wealth and success, he remains grateful for the little he has.

“At least, I am not begging for alms, and for that, I give thanks to God. What I am always mindful of is having a good name, just like Julius Berger. I am content with what I have.”

[Punch]

At the instance of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and his Rwandan counterpart, President Paul Kagame met in Doha last week in a bid to end the ongoing war in the DRC. The mindless violence in the eastern part of the country, according to the United Nations, has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in history, impacting nearly seven million people—half of them children. The situation is becoming even more dire with the recent capture of two major cities in eastern DRC, Goma and Bukavu, by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. But in Doha, both Kagame and Tshisekedi agreed on an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” that seems easier said than done.

Instructively, at about the time the two leaders were meeting, a video was trending on social media of an interview granted by Kagame where he brutally disparaged his Congolese colleague. “You know Felix (President Tshisekedi) spent many years in Belgium. He was a taxi driver. He was many things of that kind but with a very bad reputation. He was employed by an Italian man, an old man now, who had a shop selling pizza. Felix used to deliver Pizza for him,” Kagame claimed in the interview. “When this old man heard that Felix had become president of his country he said, ‘Oh, my God! Felix that couldn’t even do the job of delivering pizza, how did he become president?’”

I shared the anecdote at the 60th birthday colloquium in honour of Hon Emeka Ihedioha on Monday. Chaired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, I had been conscripted to discuss the paper presented by Bishop Hassan Matthew Kukah on the theme, ‘Is Democracy failing in Africa?’ along with Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal and Mr Peter Obi, both of whom need no further introduction. The moderator, Maupe Ogun-Yusuf of Channels Television, had sought our views on whether democracy is indeed failing on the continent. With Tambuwal answering ‘No’ and Obi saying ‘Yes’, I responded with, ‘Yes and No.’ As a member of the birthday planning committee chaired by former Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke (who decreed that I be on the panel at the last minute), we were deliberate about the kind of conversation we wanted to provoke.

After the session, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim (also needs no further introduction) told me that he thought my punchline would be that a man who could not deliver pizza would be incapable of delivering democracy and good governance to his people as president. That precisely was the point Kagame made, but I was hesitant to amplify his message that if Tshisekedi was found wanting in the simple task of prompt pizza delivery, it was expecting too much to saddle him with presiding over one of the most resource-endowed countries in Africa. Although I made the point in passing, I deliberately avoided pushing the envelope because it would detract from my central argument within the three minutes I was given. Besides, I had my doubts about the veracity of Kagame’s claim.

From my online check, the report Kagame alluded to was published by a Rwandese journalist, Tom Ndahiro who referenced a Belgian publication. One Francisco Piscopo, owner of Pizzeria Godo in Brussels, was said to have recalled his time employing Tshisekedi for three years. “He runs Congo the same way he delivered pizzas: always late, disorganized, and with missing funds that no one can explain” Piscopo reportedly said. “If I could give him one piece of advice, it would be to take his responsibilities more seriously.” I have read reports which suggest that the story was made up since Tshisekedi comes from a privileged background. His late father, Étienne Tshisekedi, was Prime Minister of Zaire in the 90s. When children of African leaders go to school or reside abroad, they rarely do odd jobs such as selling pizza. Therefore, I would rather take the Felix who couldn’t deliver pizza as a metaphor. I will come back to this shortly.

Every democracy, Kukah said in his thought-provoking presentation, is a work in progress. “Democracy gives you the opportunity to try if you failed and gives you a greater opportunity to correct the former mistakes,” the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese stated. Tambuwal shared his position, but Obi disagreed. Obasanjo, of course, took a different slant. ‘Western type democracy’, he argued, seems too frail a plant to survive the African climate because it has been reduced to “government of a small number of people, by a small number of people, over a large number of people who are deprived of what they need to have in life.” My problem with Obasanjo’s thesis, on which he has been very consistent, is that it presupposes that the pre-colonial leadership model offers better prospects of delivering the public good.

It is interesting that just about a week ago, Obasanjo publicly lamented the process of selecting traditional rulers in the country. “Today, there are criminals, drug addicts, vagabonds, bandits and kidnappers as so-called traditional rulers” Obasanjo said. “This is a great pity, and it has greatly contributed to the problems of Nigeria. How do we account for a traditional ruler snatching a ballot box at an election polling station and running away with it?” he queried. Reflecting on the past, Obasanjo said traditional rulers used to command respect, particularly during the colonial and early post-independence periods, but not anymore. “The class of traditional rulers with their distinction, honour and dignity, as we knew them in the colonial days and early post-independence days, has been diluted and polluted.”

Although the former president is yet to clarify his thoughts on ‘Afro-democracy’ (perhaps he needs to write a book on the issue), it looks to me like a throw-back to the era of the all-powerful traditional ruler who cannot be questioned (‘Kabiyesi’ in Yoruba parlance). “It’s now our responsibility to chart our own course. Western liberal democracy introduced the concept of opposition, equating it with enmity. Yet, there’s nothing inherently African about this model,” Obasanjo told a House of Representatives delegation last year when they came to seek his support for their bill to replace the current presidential system with the parliamentary system we practiced in the First Republic. Incidentally, I also had an informal session with prominent members of the group in Abuja last year, and I made it clear to them that the challenge of democratic governance in Nigeria comes more from the operators than the constitution or the system of government. For instance, if the same traditional institution that worked in the past is now ‘diluted and polluted’, why does the former president believe that changing the system of government in Nigeria will not suffer a similar fate since it would be operated by the same set of people?

Indeed, nothing illustrates the crisis of the traditional institution better than the process that eventually culminated in the enthronement of the current Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade. A former vice-chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University and globally renowned traditionalist, Professor Wande Abimbola, 92, whose intervention eventually led to a resolution of what had become a logjam, revealed some sordid details. “The kingmakers were consulted to pick a successor, and then interested individuals started giving hefty money to influence their decision. This later divided the rank of the kingmakers because they discovered that the money their leader shared to them was a far cry from what he collected,” Abimbola revealed while explaining how he was asked by Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde to consult the Ifa Oracle on the matter. “The five kingmakers had earlier supported a particular prince who gave them the heaviest sum but after discovering the act perpetrated by their leader, two of them backtracked. They reached out to the government to say they were no longer in support of the candidate, adding that they just discovered that the money their leader collected from the said prince was incredibly heavy from which he gave them peanuts.” In Yorubaland today, according to Abimbola, enthroning a king is now a cash-and-carry affair. “They would buy generators, cars and what have you for the kingmakers to influence the process. The kingmakers may collect money from a hundred candidates, it’s the highest bidder that they will give the stool to. That’s how they are doing it now.”

The lesson is that there is no system that cannot be compromised. So, at the end of the day, it’s about fidelity to the rules of engagement by the operators and being accountable to the people. But before I conclude, let me come back to the Rwandese journalist who amplified the statement of his president to knock Tshisekedi. According to Ndahiro, the fortune of a country is determined by the leader. So, if such an individual lacks the requisite qualities of discipline, honesty and dedication to duties, it is their people who would suffer the consequences. “The man who once struggled to deliver pizzas in Brussels and now struggles to deliver governance in the DR Congo, serves as a lesson in why evaluating a leader’s past is critical to understanding their potential for national leadership”, Ndahiro wrote, while highlighting what he sees as the failings of Tshisekedi.

 I do not agree with the clearly partisan premise of Ndahiro, but it is difficult to fault his thesis that a leadership recruitment process that ignores such important factors is doomed. Therefore, whether it is ‘Western style democracy’ or the traditional system of the pre-colonial era, if the person at the helm is a ‘Felix that couldn’t deliver pizza’, the system would also not deliver on the public good.

Since whatever goes for Nigeria goes for Africa, the crisis of democracy on the continent is the result of a combination of history, cultural deformities and impunity by a succession of leaders. In post-colonial Africa, the traditional codes of competence, discipline and integrity have also been superseded and replaced by the anarchy of cultism, the worship of corrupt money and transactional religion. And democracy or whatever other system we come up with can only reflect these factors in our contemporary society. The pertinent question therefore is, how do we enthrone a system that shuts out those like ‘Felix that couldn’t deliver pizza’ from critical leadership positions?

That for me is the real challenge across board, and in all spheres of our national life.

Bereavement of Wunti, Ehusani

Hajiya Aishatu Al Mustapha died last week in Bauchi State. She was the mother of my friend, Bala Wunti, the Chief Health, Safety and Environment Officer of the NNPC Ltd. May God comfort the family she left behind. And may He grant her Aljannah Firdaus. Also yesterday in Abuja, I attended the Service of Songs and Mass for Mama Catherine Matureyi Ehusani, mother of Father George Ehusani, who also preached a very powerful sermon at the occasion attended by many Catholic priests, including John Cardinal Onaiyekan. She will be buried today in Okene, Kogi State. In the tribute to his late mother written as a poem, Father George recollects: Like a weary caravan sighting an oasis/I skid at my mother’s love/With a smile as wide as the sea/For an embrace as deep as the ocean.

May she find perfect peace and may God continue to comfort the family. 

 Ayo Olukanni @ 70

Former Nigeria ambassador to Australia with concurrent accreditation to New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, Mr Ayo Olukanni, is 70 today. A career diplomat who had at various times also served in Brussels, New York, Tel Aviv, Nairobi, Vienna etc was for four years the Director General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) after his tour of duty in foreign service. I first met Olukanni when I was presidential spokesman, and he was spokesman to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time. Despite being senior to me in age and not minding his public service experience and exposure, he treated me with much respect and sought the assistance of my office all the time. With that, we worked seamlessly together. As he joins the elite Septuagenarian Club today, I can only wish him happy birthday, long life and good health.

Since late February when Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan nearly brought down the roof of the Senate, wagging her finger at the Senate President and shouting, ‘’I’m not afraid of you’’, Nigerian women have found their voice and are rising to assert their influence. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual harassment allegation against Akpabio and her relentless pursuit of the matter have further pumped up our women fold; creating a sense in them that they can’t remain silent further. The other day at the airport, a woman caused a stir as she shouted at a middle aged man, ‘’If you cross me, I will deal ruthlessly with you’’. I don’t know what the matter was, but I had to quickly walk away from the scene. On talk shows, women activists are punching the air to make their points on the issue of gender equality and reiterate their support for the embattled Kogi Senator. Last Saturday, a female guest in a TV interview looked intensely into the camera and bellowed out: ‘’we’ve been quiet for so long. It’s time we, the women, came out of our shells and teach the men some lessons’’. But nothing prepared me for the shock of last night when Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former Vice President for Africa at the World Bank and former Minister of Education, nearly came to blows with Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, deputy chief whip of the senate. I have never seen Ezekweisili so agitated, irascible and emotional.

It was at the sitting of the Senate Committee on Ethics where Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition against Akapbio was to be heard, and the former minister was there in her capacity as the Country Chair of Women Political Leaders (WPL), a nonprofit foundation that operates as a global network of female political leaders. Nwebonyi attended as a representative of the Senate President, who has been in the centre of the storm. According to Nwebonyi, trouble started when the petitioner and his lawyer refused to go on oath before they could make their presentation. Nwebonyi told Arise News: ‘’When they refused to take the oath, I asked the Chairman of the Committee to call off the meeting as the petitioner was not ready. That’s when Dr. Ezekwesili told me ‘shut up your mouth. You are a hooligan’. A shouting match then ensued. Nigerians are sharply divided on who to blame for the altercation. While some argue that as a man, Nwebonyi should have kept quiet and received Ezekwesili’s insults with equanimity, others claim that the former minister ought not to have been rude to the man, a principal officer of the Nigerian Senate, no matter her status. In any case, Nwebonyi was not even addressing her when she interjected with ‘’Shut up your mouth’’.

I have known Ezekwesili right from our days in the university in the 1980s as a respectful, courteous and good-natured, but independent minded person, and I have never thought that a day would come when she would call a senator a ‘’hooligan’’. The anger, emotions and the adrenalins we have seen in Nigerian women since the Akpoti-Uduaghan saga have been enormous. Many have thrown away self restraint as they try to make their point. This is their ‘’Me too’’ moment. I recall that #MeToo started in the US as a social movement and awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture in which women publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or harassment. The phrase ‘’Me Too’’ was initially used in this context in the US in 2006, on Myspace, by a sexual assault survivor and activist, Ms Tarana Burke; and the hashtag #MeToo was used in 2017 as a way to draw attention to the magnitude of the problem in the US. ‘’MeeToo’’ is therefore meant to empower those who have been sexually assaulted through empathy, solidarity and strength in numbers, by visibly demonstrating the depth of the problems, especially at workplace. So far, Nigerian activists have not used the hashtag #MeToo in their advocacy, but I will not be surprised if someone comes up with a typically Nigerian creative slogan. It’s not long ago that we had #EndSARs; #EndBadGovernance and #NoGreeForAnybody.

Now that personalities like Oby Ezekwesili have come out to openly identify with Akpoti-Uduaghan, it is important that Nigerian men realize just how important this issue is to our womenfolk; how sensitive they are to such matters, and that the women are fighting back in unimaginable ways. To my fellow men, let me warn that the era of leering lustfully at women or making comments about a woman’s bust or length of her skirt is gone. You could be accused of sexual harassment for passing what you think is an innocuous joke. Last May, Mrs Simisola Ajayi, an assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs had accused the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Ibrahim Lamuwa, of sexual harassment. Mrs Ajayi had petitioned the then Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Folashade Yemi-Esan of serially making passes at her despite her status as a married woman. Then Head of Service promptly suspended the Perm Sec, but the matter had since died. Attempts by the House of Representatives to weigh into the matter quickly fizzled out. Activists like Dr. Ezekwesili did not even bother to comment on it, perhaps because Mrs Ajayi is not a senator. That’s how Nigeria works. If you are not a big man (or woman), nobody fights your fight. The reason Natasha’s matter has become an international embarrassment is because she is a beautiful senator married to a Warri chief. If she were a teacher in my village, nobody would listen to her even if her headmaster had torn her skirt!

Nigerian women are fighting back to assert their position as equal partners in society and demand for respect, recognition and a place at the table. But like all struggles, this one requires good strategies and long-term planning; not emotions and insults.

The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Nyesom Wike, on Wednesday declared that he would ensure that former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, fails in his push for the presidency.

Speaking through his media aide, Lere Olayinka, Wike said he has no regret that Atiku refused to pick him as his running mate during the build-up to the 2023 presidential election.

In an interview with Adesina Giwa-Osagie, Atiku said he had “no regrets” for ignoring Wike as his running mate in the 2023 presidential election.

DAILY POST recalls that the rift between Atiku and Wike dates back to the controversial PDP primaries of 2022.

Wike had expected to be compensated with the vice-presidential slot, but Atiku picked former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

Addressing why he chose Okowa over Wike, Atiku stated that he deliberately left the decision to the PDP.

“They said I did not consult widely in 2019 when I picked Peter Obi as my running mate, so in 2023, I told the party to set up a committee to recommend three names,” Atiku said.

Atiku said the committee ranked Okowa as the top choice, with Wike in second place and former Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel in third.

“So I picked number one,” he said.

Responding, Olayinka said Wike has no regret over losing the slot to Okowa.

Posting on X, Olayinka wrote: “Two years after making the @OfficialPDPNig lose a presidential election it could have won, @atiku is giving reasons he did not pick @GovWike as his running mate and that he has no regrets.

“Someone should tell our serial presidential election contester that Wike also has no regret for ensuring that he failed in the election and will make sure that he fails again and again.”

[DailyPost]

Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has defended her clash with the senator representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, at a Senate Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Speaking during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday, Ezekwesili stated that she is pleased with her verbal engagement with the Imo lawmaker, saying that the clash has exposed what women face in a patriarchal society.

She said, “I was 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 a little about it but has not focused on it. It has now come to the top of our public agenda that we should not allow for a society that shuts down voices.”

The clash occurred during a Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions hearing on a fresh petition submitted by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan against Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

Ezekwesili was present at the hearing alongside Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, counsel to Akpoti-Uduaghan, and the chief petitioner from Kogi Central, Zubairu Yakubu.

Trouble started when the petitioner urged the Chairman of the Committee, Neda Imasuen, to step down in the case following the ‘controversial’ manner in which he had so far handled the alleged sexual harassment allegation against Akpabio.

He further alleged that some committee members had pre-existing ties to Akpabio, which he said compromised their ability to be neutral.

His remarks angered some lawmakers, who accused him of attempting to undermine the committee’s credibility.

Ezekwesili also came under fire for what they saw as her insistence on forcing herself into the proceedings.

However, Ezekwesili insisted on being heard out.

She said, “I asked to be put on oath as a witness. I am a citizen of Nigeria.”

This led to a heated argument with Nwaebonyi, who lashed out at her, saying, “You’re a fool. What do you mean? Why are you talking to me like that? I will not take it. You’re an insult to womanhood. People like you cannot be here.”

Ezekwesili called him a “hooligan,” further escalating the altercation.

The verbal battle momentarily disrupted the hearing before order was restored.

During the proceedings, tensions flared when Nwaebonyi was heard hurling derogatory remarks at Ezekwesili, referring to her as an “insult to womanhood” and a “hooligan.”

[Punch]

The University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) has conferred professorship on the Director General of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Innocent Barikor.

Barikor, who was promoted to Professor of Political Economy and Development Studies, was among 46 staff members elevated by the university.

In a statement on Wednesday, Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Onwunari Georgewill, said the promotions were approved during the 187th meeting of the Governing Council, chaired by Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa.

According to him, 30 senior academics were promoted to the rank of professor, while 16 others were elevated to associate professor after undergoing the university’s rigorous assessment process.

Barikor, who assumed office as NESREA DG in May last year, has made significant strides in environmental sustainability. Under his leadership, the agency has aggressively implemented the Extended Producer Responsibility Programme across sectors such as food and beverage, battery, used tyres, and electrical/electronics.

He also spearheaded the development of key environmental legislation including the National Environmental (Battery Control) Regulations 2024 and the National Guidelines for the Implementation of EPR for (Plastic) Packaging. Additionally, the National Environmental (Plastic Waste Control) Regulations are awaiting gazetting.

Barikor oversaw the review of environmental permitting and licensing regulations and the regulations governing international trade in endangered species of fauna and flora. Under his administration, NESREA conducted 1,671 compliance monitoring inspections, shutting down 96 facilities for environmental violations.

To enhance efficiency, he unbundled NESREA offices in key states, taking environmental governance closer to the grassroots.

With support from the Fleming Fund, funded by UKAid, and in collaboration with Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Barikor is equipping the National Reference Laboratory in Port Harcourt with state-of-the-art research equipment. A 30KVA solar power system has also been installed to provide 24-hour power supply to the laboratory.

In March, NESREA launched the National Industrial Decarbonisation Programme (NIDP) to curb emissions from the industrial sector.

The agency also hosted an international conference on upgrading the lead-battery recycling sector in Africa under the Partnership for Responsible Battery and Metal Recycling (PROBAMET).

Through his leadership, NESREA has attracted support from international partners, including the European Union, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the German and Japanese governments, the African Center for Protection and the Elephant Protection Initiative Foundation (EPIF).

 [Vanguard]

Bolanle Ninalowo, the Nollywood actor, has taken to social media to express his frustration over being impersonated on TikTok.

On Wednesday, the actor shared a video on his Instagram page, revealing multiple profiles on TikTok using his name and pictures.

Ninalowo disclosed that he is not even on TikTok, questioning how he would be able to open a real account with many impersonators already using his identity.

“Dang! And I am not even on TikTok. How do I now open a real account. People dey para ooo,” he wrote.

Bolanle ventured into the Nigerian film industry in the early 2000s, initially starting his career as a producer. However, he faced failure and subsequently tried his hand at music, which also didn’t work out. Undeterred, he returned to acting in the mid-2000s.

His breakthrough role came in the 2015 movie ‘Desperate Baby Mamas’ which marked the beginning of his successful acting career.

Since then, the Ikorodu-born actor has appeared in numerous hit films, showcasing his versatility in both Yoruba and English movies.

Some of his notable roles include performances in ‘Fate of Alakada,’ ‘Coming From Insanity,’ ‘Breaded Life,’ ‘Lakatabu,’ ‘The Bloom Boys’, ‘Far From Home’, ‘Picture Perfect’ and ‘Alter Date.’

[TheCable]

Remembrance, and the Reparatory Ethos, 2025

(Being text of keynote by Professor WOLE SOYINKA to the United Nations’ annual ceremony in observance of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, under the theme: “Acknowledge the past. Repair the present. Build a future of dignity and justice,” held March 25, 2025 at UN Headquarters in New York. The ceremony was held as an official plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly)

Madam President, Honorable members of the General Assembly. 

There is a compelling relevance in my recalling prior occasions when I have had the honour of addressing this gathering. The most memorable, without question, took place during the final phase of the dismantling of the South African slave encampment that went by the name of Apartheid. One vivid image I still retain from that session was that of Archbishop Desmond Tutu breaking into a solo dance routine in the middle of his intervention. His sudden possession by Terpischore, the Grecian Muse of Dance, was however instigated by Ogun, the Yoruba Muse of Liberation, Equity and Justice, obviously, since that impromptu turn occurred at that point when the revered man of God attempted to convey the sensation of what it felt like when a man, at his advanced age, a spiritual leader anywhere, cast a vote for the first time in his life.

Another occasion worthy of recall happened through surrogation, since you neither heard nor saw any of the participants. We were not physically present in this chamber, yet we were, and most intensely so. We were active within stone’s throw, just across the street on First Avenue,  addressing you from a session organized by CREDO, a Human Rights organization. The purpose was to place on trial an African dictator of a decidedly racist orientation, whose plantation overseers, known as the Janjaweed had placed millions of African autochthones under arbitrary disposal. Just as in its sister, more notorious encampment further south, this existence of millions under mass subjugation was actualized on their own ancestral soil. Our mimic event took place in an apartment with a room-length glass window which overlooked this very building, positioned so that the flags of all nations fluttered – as they do up till now -  in the background, providing us a United Nations symbolic supervision.

The foregoing suffices, I hope, to propel us towards a seizure, if not exactly an unassailable definition, of how it feels to undergo an approximate experience of the existential actualities of enslavement. It means - no matter one’s age, gender, faith or social status - to be subjected to the will of others. It means to be denied, as a very condition of daily existence, the fundamental human asset known as – Volition. That condition is captured in more than one instance from the film Django Unchained, where the villain of the piece, incensed by an attempt to outsmart him in a human trade-off, viciously squeezes the face of that female commodity  and snarls:

“This is my property. I can do whatever I like with her.”

Now, that slave owner happened to be an out and out sadist. He not only ran a domestic amphitheatre of death, he was more than willing to diminish his capital by setting his killer dogs on a would-be escapee, just to prove that cardinal point – he owned that fugitive, dead or alive. 

I shall share with you an earlier, real life pronouncement, uttered during the struggle to oust my own nation’s contribution to the case file of the master-slave typology. That outburst in real time leapt unbidden to mind when I watched and heard the actor di Caprio’s savage declamation. That cinematic moment emerged as an  echo, ironically, of a pronouncement by a radical mind, a highly regarded community leader and prelate. He was venting his outrage at what he considered a hypocritical stance of the West over the judicial murder of the Ogoni Nine= who were hanged after a kangaroo trial. His words, not exact, but fairly accurate were:

“Who are these Europeans to tell an African ruler who to hang or not to hang?”

Near identical with di Caprio’s mission statement, you’ll agree. In mitigation, using a familiar expression from these parts, one knew “where he was coming from” – a lifelong anti-white, anti-western stance that derived from history and social experience in the present. Nonetheless, I confess that those words sent shivers up and down my spine.  

And that is the core of slavery – ownership, and the limitless carte blanche  that goes with it. The ownership of another being. Yes indeed, the condition known as slavery means to be owned by another human being, with or without a bill of sale, to be placed under chains, visible or invisible – it does not matter. Slavery means to be owned. The rest is mere elaboration. 

You begin to understand why the notion of one state of enslavement being more benign than others, less inhumane, while admittedly legitimate and instructive fodder for academia – sociologists and all - is fundamentally repugnant and ethically inadmissible. The field slave in opposition to the house slave. Open concubinage against punishable miscegenation. Sahara or Mediterranean. Sahara against the Atlantic/Caribbean. Trans-Indian ocean versus the rest. Each arm of the triangulation  - Capture/Transit/Relocation – reads, comprehensively, Dehumanization on an unprecedented scale in the annals of  black human cargo. 

Exercises in comparative misery merely end up with censorship, subtle and coy to overt and institutional.  It is totally irrelevant that one enslaved victim ends up marrying a scion of the house of his owners or becomes a companion and paraclete of spiritual avatars, mostly converts under duress. Exceptions hold out the torch of humanistic possibilities, but do not ignite the flame of  universal enlightenment. That task is left to us, successors to generations of human despoilation. 

It is either one accepts that this is a viable foundation for a vision harmonious co-existence or else a delusion. Some illusions are still with us, after centuries. They morph, change colour, texture, motion, even nomenclature. Undetected for what they really are, they become a way of dealing with history, to be protected and sustained by other social constructs. They prove quite seductive, even compel adoption by society’s greatest thinkers - from economic theorists to religious expositors. Slavery is one such permissive foraging ground for revisionists, and the African continent remains the dedicated, indeed consecrated  – in more senses than one -  consecrated material base for the blood transfusion that continues to. sustained the aberration. When eventually, and for whatever reason, the warps in the  conceptual template of perpetrators and beneficiaries on the one hand, and/or victims on the other, are ironed out, the ledger book of profit and loss is bought out, dusted down and dormant claims are brought to the fore. 

However, a problem is provoked: how does one reckon compensation for an aberration that endured over four centuries, engorged and spewed out an estimated fifteen million humans westwards, eastwards, northwards, a crime that endures till today in both its crude, material and legally backed forms, and its more ambiguous, subtly degrading characteristics? Compensaion for the waste of humanity is a long call from itemization of fauna and flora after an oil spill. The task is obviously beyond value attributions and itemized correlations, no matter in what currency - including trading concessions, technological assistance, or direct economic aid. The mind seizes up in the attempt, and not even the all-knowing Artificial Intelligence can work it out. All we can do is approach any such notion of justice symbolically, gesturally, commencing where all forms of restitution begin: an admission of the obvious – the existence of the crime, recognition of the perpetrators. the collaborators and the beneficiaries and - the victims. Concerning that last, the Diaspora displays the indisputable manifest across generations. 

To reinforce that self-evident base, the sordid business is not yet over.  Extant slave markets endure in notable parts of the world, including, most ironically, within the resource centre itself – the African continent. Establishing this for Doubting Thomases is easy tnough – we can lead you to them, physically.  Often more difficult to establish however is the condition itself that constitutes slavery. Yet we must address it. We musf, since one is fed by, and feeds on the other, creating a vicious cycle.  The agent of that condition can be an individual, a community, a class, a race, or a religion. 

When, for instance, two hundred and seventy-nine school pupils, all female, are kidnapped from within a supposed sanctuary of learning, taken into a forest, divided up among their captors and scattered to all corners of the world, we need no instruction in conceiving their fate. Captives of an undeclared war, subject to commodity negotiations, bound to the whims and caprices of successive intermediaries and owners, their fate is to succumb to sexual duties, even where underage. These are the twenty-first century horrors that spice the humdrum fare of daily existence.

A b efitting moment to interject yet another recall of my prior intrusions into this rarefied space of world leadership   – this was on the anniversary of United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child. For that event, I read a poem that was specially commissioned on behalf of this body – It was titled “The Child before A Mirror of Strangers”. The relevance of those lines, in effect a child’s lament and accusation of gross dereliction by the adult world, deserves to remain an eternal burden and a blot on world conscience. Off to school, and straight into captivity, dispersal and enslavement?  Three hundred youths in one fell swoop? Abominations  in su h dimensions  surely earn centre place in any Rites of Remembrance. 

On reflection however, should we truly have been taken by surprise? The self-acclaimed world religions worked hand in hand with militarism for the promotion of the lucrative trade on the African continent, as did the instrumentality of laws and edicts. Keeping faith with the profit motif, royalty, prelates, bankers and nations granted patents, regional monopolies, outfitted ships, legislated who qualified to be enslaved and who were exempted, with the ironic template of Religion which acted against its own mission of soul harvesting. I refer here to edicts that forbade further evangelical activities, since infidels were legally designated fair game, but not the converted. Thus, religious conversion had come to constitute a serious trade hazard, since it dried  up resources. The mission of the spirit cravenly ceded supremacy to market forces. 

How could such cynicism fail to sear collective memory when, as in recent instance, a supernumerary local ruler in that same traumatized country of mine, breaks through the cocoon of time to ban the procession of traditional African religionists through the streets of their ancestral land, cultures and world view. Such sights, he declared, were offensive to his sight and retrograde in essence. The responses, one is heartened to say, were swift, but the danger has not passed. And so, just as one speaks today of neo-colonialism, it would be wise to take note of the eruption of neo-theocratism, powered by antiquated notions of master-slave relations. The ancillary question is thus: can we speak with one voice on the moral imperative of reparatory justice, when the converted take up cudgels on behalf on their own spiritual enslavers? It reminds us that the work of this august body remains incomplete. There exists a grave lacuna in the concept of crimes against African humanity. It is time that we either speak holistically in our approach to slavery or else issue certificates of retroactive immunity to all, and for all time. Yes, there is an ocean-borne crime to expiate, and there is also the desert borne. Local courts thrive in places which adjudicate cases of disputed slave ownership – the records are there – meticulous case-files of a new generation of abolitionists – such as SOS Esclaves, among others.

Let me however, also cast this conciliatory line. There is no compulsion to carry the errors and crimes of one’s ancestors as an overwhelming burden of conscience. Those ancestors acted within the limitations of their times, their historic and social conditioning, their limited understanding of the full panoply of what we, today, cognize as human. The line must be drawn however when, in a modern age, and advanced understanding, arrogant and provocative attempts are made to sanitize and perpetuate the legacy of such limitations, to profit from the imbalance of historic encounters, engage in new blood transfusions, largely through that seductive toxin that we know as power, the axial end in eternal opposition to the attribute of  -human freedom. That is where the problem arises and every individual is then called upon to answer the name of his or her ancestors. 

It is so frustratingly obvious: if I cannot walk on my own ancestral soil, to my own inner and outward rhythm, to my own chants, in celebration of my spirituality, then, what am I but just another   commodity among other spoils of conquest? Yet, the efforts persist. If descendants of Druids in the United Kingdom choose to parade through the streets of London and intone their chants  all the way to Stonehenge, just what does this subtract from, or how does that contaminate the spiritual domain of the Archbishop of Canterbury? Why do some embark on retrograde steps that diminish the shared heritage of humanity? And so, we assert, the slavery era is by no means over, only morphed in structure and sustaining practicalities. The slavers are next door, and in the ascendant.

Is it hyperbolic to warn that we are witnessing the inauguration of a twenty-first century slave trade? That we are being coerced to become collaborators in the new slavery venture?  Unlike the originals who took risks, today’s slave raiders simply wait until defenceless children are gathered together in one place at the behest and/ or compulsion of governance, parents and guardians, for the purpose of learning. The hyenas swoop upon the unsuspecting prey, cart them off, sequester them in forest and other holding pens, then call on families and governments to come and negotiate for them. The world, including its global institutions had better wake up to the fact that the slave trade is back on African soil with a one-sided ferocity, all the more obscene and blasphemous for being camouflaged as a religious mandate. Chibok – plus its insatiable clones and enabling environment – places a searing  question mark on Africa’s authentic self recovery after centuries of being  mere annotations in the histories oi others, to be expunged at will. 

Indeed those others have evolved the name calling ploy to ward off, or wrong foot  alternative propositions on such a vast land mass, and to such an extent that I have sometimes wondered if there was an undeclared contest for the most exotic or disingenuous. The Dark Continent. Terra incognita. The White Man’s Grave. The Slave Coast…and so on. Curiously, and perversely however, my favourite remains one that appears to have  given the most offence. I.cannot mouth it in full, not in these d chambers where our late elder, The Archbishop Desmond Tutu, did his sublime dance of liberation. Let’s just formalize it as  -that continent of SH countries.

Well. addressing you today is a fully grounded, unapologetic citizen of one of those SH nations, born into a history that has no record of lynching humans misnamed slaves, burning some even while still breathing. Our ancestors did not capture such picnic sessions on early black and white postcards for vicarious participation by absent friends and relations. We have no history of injecting others with the syphilis virus in the name of scientific research, of amputating and castrating members of other races for failure to understand the condition of slavery as a divine blessing and thus took to the hills and forests in pursuit of freedom. We dud not cimmit the crime of the millennium, then seek to close the book of reckoning with a  down payment of forty acres and a mule. 

We understand also, however, the affliction called ignorance and accept that it must be addressed through multiple strategies. We also acknowledge the operations of conscience, and salute those whose actions were, and remain propelled by the restless workings of conscience that ultimately sweep violators of humanity to the altar of restitution. We know that such urging to reparatory justice is alien to the visionaries and salvationists of MAGAlopolis, and other paracletes of the gospel of racial superiority all over the globe. Nonetheless we remain compulsive correctives to arrogant presumptions, and it is this that brings us to te practical question:

What do we seek from this assembly? What do we propose, specifically, for its mission of reparatory justice? Here is one project for consideration:

Undertake, or mandate and empower that appropriate body, UNESCO, to complete the task it has commenced. We shall reiterate the obvious – there is a profound difference from UNESCO’s other projects such as the Iron Route and the Silk Route which involve inert, convertible material.   This undertaking by contrast, concerns the vitalizing, transformative and creative species which however were rationalized into equivalents of those earlier named objects, accorded the additional distinction of transporting themselves as marketable commodities. The UNESCO initiatives have laid the ground work for an attitudinal corrective.  Others, within their own limitations, not only pioneered but have continued to augment such global initiatives in their own limited capabilities. The thirst for a global reparatory justice, both by victims and – let this be again conceded - even their violators or beneficiaries, offering incremental benefits along the way to a new plenum of humanized relationships, is undeniable.  It would be a pity not to crystallize all such urgings and initiatives into a self -regenerating offering. It is all set down as the major virtue of a project currently advertised as The Heritage Voyage of Return.

The Heritage Voyage of Return

In visual terms, the concept is not too dissimilar in orientation from those nineteenth and twentieth century “expositions” – Berlin, London, Manchester etc. etc  in western and other parts of the world, expositions crammed full of the spoils of rape and pillage of others. This time however, what is being proposed is a lived-in exposition as a moving Remembrance monument, a transitional warehouse of a continent’s past, present and future, a vibrant statement on a continent’s interrupted history. A special Honour Gallery will house artifacts looted from the Africsn continent but since returned under the spirit  and ethos of Restitution. Seminars. Readings. Africa themed films.  Documentaries. installations. Clinics and life style parades. Music from Africa and the Diaspora. A unique library and manuscript collection. Archeological retrievals. An exhumed slave vessel. The boat will take off from the Diaspora, make a call at representative ports of Slavery connection, positive or negative, on its way to the West African coast. A television crew on board broadcasts events to the rest of the world. Primarily for descendants of the enslaved, it is also open to others – that is, others who are equally embroiled in the quest for a new humanity that embraces, not excludes, that is curious, not foreclosed, that still lays claim to conscience as the touchstone of the rational species.

The nature of reparatory justice that befits the magnitude of Slavery wrongs can only be symbolic, gestural. Yes, but also morally and therapeutically propulsive, one that goes to the core of a continent’s humanity, vividly expressed in its arts and spirituality. It is a symbolic voyage of return, one that stands to become an annual fixture.  Effectively, it offers  no more than a continuation of UNESCO’s work on the Routes of Enslaved Peoples, beamed deservedly, at the African continent. HVR is a voyage of Learning, Leisure, and Linkage. It is not only feasible, it is imperative. Yes, such a voyage presumes to teach the world, to bring the world into confrontation with centuries of wrongs and possibly a recovery of its lost humanity. It is however not designed to be a vessel of recrimination, but a floating festival of peaceful options and neglected knowledge. Glorified tourism? Why not? But Tourism “with an attitude”. This is a return, not just to a wronged continent, but a return of the world to its holistic potential, to what it can be, shorn of irrational concepts, embedded prejudice, lust for power and domination. It will be manifested as a first furlong in a voyage towards, put simply, a re-insertion of human in that grossly depleted word: humanity. 

Wole SOYINKA

NB: The ceremony is part of the United Nations’ unwavering commitment to raise awareness of the history of the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, its impact on the modern world, and its legacies, including racism and prejudice. Other speakers invited include UN Secretary-General António Guterres; President of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly Philemon Yang, of Cameroon; Permanent Representatives of all 193 UN Members States; and a dynamic youth speaker. Past keynote speakers have included Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The New York Times’ 1619 Project (2022); Lisa M. Coleman, a member of New York University’s senior leadership (2021); and the Trinidadian mixed media artist Christopher Cozier (2019).

The recent altercation between Senator Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, senator representing the state of Ebonyi North, and former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili during a Senate committee hearing has drawn significant attention to broader concerns surrounding gender dynamics, emotional regulation, and professional conduct in Nigeria’s political sphere. The aggressive outburst by Nwaebonyi has further reinforced the perception that male-dominated political institutions continue to suppress and harass women, especially those like Ezekwesili and Akpoti-Udughan who challenge the status quo. This incident, coupled with the ongoing sexual harassment allegations against Senate President Godswill Akpabio by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Udughan, paints a disturbing picture of the power dynamics at play.

The Gendered Nature of Power Struggles in Politics

At the heart of the altercation is a familiar power dynamic in many political systems: the male-dominated nature of power and the corresponding tendency to suppress, belittle, or dismiss the voices of women, particularly those who challenge the status quo. Women in positions of power, like Ezekwesili and Akpoti-Udughan, often find themselves navigating a system that was historically designed to exclude them. The comments made by Senator Nwaebonyi during the exchange—calling Ezekwesili a “fool” and “an insult to womanhood”—seem to epitomize the unchecked aggression and misogyny that too often characterizes the treatment of women in Nigerian politics. This not only underscores the rampant gender inequality but also reinforces the culture of silence and submission that women in politics are often forced into.

From a therapeutic perspective, this aggression can be seen as a manifestation of toxic masculinity—an ingrained cultural belief that men should dominate political spaces and that women’s voices, regardless of their expertise or experience, should be silenced. When a male politician responds to a woman’s call for order with such hostility and verbal abuse, it reflects not only personal animosity but also a broader societal issue where the contributions of women are undervalued. This is compounded by a system where power, control, and dominance are prioritized over empathy, respect, and collaboration—values that are crucial for any functional democracy.

The Role of Emotional Regulation and Professionalism

The exchange between Nwaebonyi and Ezekwesili also sheds light on the lack of emotional regulation and professionalism in Nigeria’s political discourse. Nwaebonyi’s response, fueled by anger, aggression, and a complete disregard for the decorum expected of a public official, points to deeper issues within the political system that discourage self-reflection and emotional maturity. In therapeutic settings, individuals are encouraged to develop emotional regulation strategies that allow them to manage their responses to stress and conflict in a healthy and constructive manner. Public figures, especially politicians, have a responsibility to model emotional control, as their behavior sets the tone for public discourse.

During the confrontation, another female present urged Nwaebonyi to “take it easy” as he launched ugly and demeaning words at Ezekwesili. Nwaebonyi, however, flung her hand away twice when she attempted to intervene, a clear sign of his refusal to listen or engage in a more controlled manner. Meanwhile, another male, acting on the chairman’s instructions, tried to mute Nwaebonyi’s microphone due to the loudness of his outbursts. However, Nwaebonyi reactivated the microphone, continuing his verbal assault without pause. Even when the chairman was banging his gavel in an attempt to restore order, Nwaebonyi remained defiant. These actions not only underscored his complete lack of self-control but also revealed a blatant disregard for the rules of conduct expected in a professional environment. Nwaebonyi’s refusal to calm down, even when his microphone was muted by the committee chairman, further highlights a lack of respect for institutional authority and a disregard for the standards of conduct that should govern such proceedings. His refusal to back down, his refusal to take responsibility for his actions, and his continued verbal assault on Ezekwesili escalated the situation and diverted attention away from the serious matter at hand—the sexual harassment allegations involving Akpabio and Akpoti-Udughan. Instead of focusing on the pressing issues that the committee was convened to address, the proceedings became consumed by personal conflict and emotional volatility.

Even If Ezekwesili Provoked Him, Why Such Aggression?

Even if Ezekwesili’s comments had provoked or irritated Senator Nwaebonyi, many questioned why he resorted to such a full-blown aggression, hurling insult upon insult. The level of hostility displayed by the senator went far beyond what could be considered a reasonable response. While it’s understandable that comments can sometimes trigger strong emotional reactions, the magnitude of Nwaebonyi’s response raised serious concerns. Even if her words had annoyed him, his reaction was disproportionate and far from appropriate for a public official in such a formal setting.

The video captured Nwaebonyi’s inability to control his emotions, as his verbal aggression spiraled to the point of demeaning and disrespecting Ezekwesili in an entirely unprofessional manner. His insults, calling her a “big fool” and saying she was “an insult to womanhood,” were excessive and unwarranted. This response highlights the lack of emotional regulation and a disregard for the decorum expected in political settings, especially when addressing women in leadership roles. The aggression shown by Nwaebonyi was not simply a reaction to a comment—it was an escalation that disregarded all forms of professionalism, undermining the integrity of the committee hearing.

The Underlying Power Struggles and Male Privilege

The clash between Nwaebonyi and Ezekwesili is also indicative of the underlying power struggles that continue to play out in Nigerian politics. Nwaebonyi’s actions reflect a deep-seated belief in male privilege—a belief that men are entitled to dominate the political space and that women, even when they are experts in their field or hold public office, should not challenge male authority. This perception of male entitlement can be traced back to Nigeria’s patriarchal society, where men have historically occupied positions of power and women have had to fight for even a seat at the table.

Nwaebonyi’s behavior is all the more concerning given his position as a “star witness” for Senate President Akpabio in the ongoing sexual harassment case. Akpabio himself has come under scrutiny for his treatment of women in politics, and Nwaebonyi’s actions only add to the perception that the male-dominated Senate continues to operate with little regard for gender equity. As a key figure in the proceedings, Nwaebonyi’s behavior undermines the calls for greater fairness and transparency, casting a shadow over Akpoti-Uduaghan’s claims.

Furthermore, Nwaebonyi’s actions echo a broader issue within the Senate, where, out of 109 members, only four are women. This glaring underrepresentation speaks volumes about the systemic barriers women face in Nigerian politics. Even as Akpabio’s conduct is being challenged, Nwaebonyi’s actions reinforce the deeply entrenched gender biases within the Senate. In an environment where women are already vastly outnumbered, it becomes even more crucial for men in power to set an example of respect, professionalism, and emotional maturity.

The Impact on Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s Case and the Need for Institutional Reform

For Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who has already faced significant challenges in her fight for justice, the altercation only serves to further validate her claims of harassment and the systemic barriers that women face in Nigerian politics. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition against Akpabio, alleging sexual harassment and abuse of power, highlights the entrenched gender inequalities that continue to pervade Nigerian political institutions. The verbal assault by Nwaebonyi against Ezekwesili only adds fuel to her complaints, further reinforcing the narrative of women being subjected to both overt and covert forms of harassment and discrimination.

Akpoti-Uduaghan’s case, now being followed globally through news coverage, has raised the volume of her calls for systemic reform. As she has described the Senate as a “cult” that is “anti-female” and “hostile to women,” the recent altercation further affirms her stance. The video of Nwaebonyi’s actions reinforces her claims, demonstrating how the very same toxic culture she’s been fighting against continues to thrive, unchecked and unchallenged. Natasha is now being seen all over the world on global television, highlighting these deep-seated problems. This reinforces the need for institutional reform to tackle the gender-based discrimination that has become so entrenched in Nigerian politics.

The global attention on Akpoti-Uduaghan’s case has shone a light on these systemic issues, but real reform is needed. This reform must address the deep-rooted culture of misogyny within Nigerian political institutions and ensure that women are given equal opportunities to participate and thrive in politics. The Senate must prioritize creating an environment where women are not only heard but respected, and where their rights are protected from the pervasive culture of male privilege and power.

The Need for Emotional Regulation in Politics

From a therapeutic perspective, addressing the issues at hand requires not only holding individuals accountable for their actions but also fostering an environment where emotional regulation, respect, and empathy are prioritized. Therapy can play a significant role in helping individuals in power—such as senators and public officials—recognize and address their emotional responses, as well as the biases that influence their interactions with others. In order for true progress to be made, there must be a commitment to changing the entrenched systems of power that perpetuate gender inequality.

Therapy for All: Nwaebonyi, Akpabio, and the Senate

It is also evident that there needs to be a broader discussion on therapy and emotional regulation within Nigerian political institutions. Nwaebonyi, Akpabio, and the almost entirely male-dominated Senate of 109 members, with only four women, all require therapy in different areas. This therapy would address not just emotional regulation, but also the internalized biases that perpetuate male dominance, silencing women’s voices, and fostering an environment where power is wielded without empathy or respect.

Breaking the Cycle of Gender Inequality

The incident involving Senator Nwaebonyi and Ezekwesili is a stark reminder of how far Nigeria’s political system has to go in achieving gender equity. It also serves as a call to action for all Nigerians to advocate for a more inclusive, respectful, and just political environment, where the voices of women are not just heard but truly respected. Until these changes occur, the cycle of male suppression, harassment, and inequality will continue to undermine the progress that Nigeria so desperately needs.

Institutional Therapy: An Independent Investigation

One form of therapy for the institution is an independent investigation—not a biased, aggressive committee—focused on uncovering the truth, holding individuals accountable, and establishing fair processes that foster a culture of respect, transparency, and equality in Nigerian politics.