Bianca, wife of late Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Biafran warlord, has explained why she slapped the immediate past first lady of Anambra state, Ebele Obiano.
During the swearing-in ceremony of Professor Charles Soludo as Anambra governor on Thursday, March 17, Mrs Obiano and Ojukwu engaged in a physical combat which disrupted the ceremony.
In a viral video, Bianca gave Ebele a slap after the latter left her seat to allegedly insult her. Mrs. Obiano who was left ruffled after her scuffle with Bianca was also filmed on camera calling Bianca ”Ashawo.”
In an interview with Arise TV, Bianca, said Ebele was noticeably absent as the inauguration ceremony started. Bianca said Ebele then arrived an hour later.
Read also: Anambra: Ex-Gov Obiano’s wife, Bianca Ojukwu’s Fight mars Soludo’s inauguration
”I didn’t pay any attention to her arrival. Surprisingly, she then walked towards me and I thought she was coming to greet me. Instead she verbally attacked me with her voice raised, taunting me and asking me what I was there to do, using unprintable, vile language.
She asked if I had come to celebrate their last day in office but I ignored her completely. Then she kept on aggressively putting her hand on my shoulders and shouting.
Read also: EFCC Arrests Former Anambra Governor Willie Obiano
While I ignored her verbal onslaught as advised by people sitting around me, I requested twice that she refrains from touching me with her hands. She proceeded to do so yet again and tried to touch my head and remove my head-tie.
It was at this point I stood up to defend myself and gave her a dirty slap to stop her from attacking me. As she made towards me, I den pulled away her wig, she then held on to her wig with her two hands and tried to take the wig away from me.
The former APGA chairman, Umeh, told her to leave me and told everyone to leave. I was stunned by the stench of whisky in her breath at such an early hour of the day.
How could the first lady be so drunk at that time? I stayed back to watch the ceremony till the end and left with my dignity intact.”
Chief Umeh corroborates story
Chief Victor Umeh, the former Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, has given his own account of the scuffle that happened between Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu and the outgone first lady of Anambra state, Ebele Obiano.
In an interview with Arise TV, Umeh said the account given by Bianca on what transpired is true.
In his words, ”Yesterday was not a pleasant day for us because we were at the inauguration ceremony of Professor Soludo as the governor-elect. Something unimaginable happened and it overshadowed the storyline yesterday.
From Ambassador Bianca’s narrative, she was correct in her narration of what actually happened because we were all seated in good time for the event.
The former governor drove into the arena and when he alighted from his car, we noticed he didn’t come with his wife. He came and exchanged pleasantries with everybody and went and sat down. Everything had gone on. The deputy governor had been sworn in.
The Chief Judge was on the verge of swear in the new governor and midway into that ceremony of swearing-in Gov Soludo, the former first lady came into the arena and walked to another place to sit down away from where the husband sat. We also observed that that was a strange situation. She ought to have gone to sit with her husband but she didn’t do that.
The video footage has shown everything to everybody that she left where she was sitting and walked straight to where Ambassador Bianca was sitting calmly and started verbal attacks on her. I was seated away but within a very clear view.
When the exchange of blows as I would call it started, I had to rush to that place to restrain them and separate them to ensure that no harm was inflicted on Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu who was seated very calmly for that ceremony”
Senator Stella Oduah’s anger
Senator representing Anambra North, Stella Oduah, has bashed the former First Lady of Anambra, Ebelechukwu Obiano, for attacking Bianca, the widow of the late Biafran warlord, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu.
On her Twitter account, Oduah described Mrs Obiano’s “unwarranted attack” as “indecorous and ”unbecoming” of a former First Lady.
Oduah said, “I hereby condemn in strong terms, this unwarranted attack against the wife of an illustrious son and our very own Ikemba. I wish to add that the act exhibited by the former first lady was indecorous and unbecoming of a woman who had acted as a mother of the state and even desirous of serving in other capacities.
“More condemnable is even the gutter and vulgar language used by Mrs Obiano to describe her fellow woman, who is even a widow. I have always held the view that it is only weak minds that label hardworking women like Bianca with nasty names such as ‘ashawo.’
“What the world witnessed today at the swearing in ceremony is utterly disgraceful, unfortunate, crude and should never be emulated by the millions of our young girls and women who often look up to public figures with respect to how they conduct themselves.”
Recall that former governor Willie Obiano, had declared that his wife will be running for the senatorial seat of Anambra North, same seat being occupied by Oduah.
