Pascal Arogorn Ibe
About 500 people have signed a new
petition asking the Nigerian Bar
Association to remove Kaduna State
Governor , Nasir El – Rufai , from the list of
speakers in the upcoming Annual General
Conference of the NBA .
This is just as some lawyers called on the
NBA leadership to remove el – Rufai from
the list of speakers due to his leadership
failure in the wake up of the killings in
Southern Kaduna as well as his human
rights record.
The petition, which was started by Usani
Odum , has garnered nearly 500 signatures
barely hours after it was initiated.
The summary of the petition read , “ The
senseless killings in southern Kaduna
must stop . The political correctness of
Governor El- Rufai on national TV is
diversionary. It is a reversal to have him
speak to lawyers on security , when
Governor ( Babagana) Zulum of Borno a
better person can do so.
“ We may not be able to do anything to
stop the killings , but we can stop the
governor from speaking at the NBA- AGC
to show our disapproval of the manner he
has handled the situation!!”
Meanwhile , several lawyers have publicly
indicated that they will not be attending
the NBA conference if the leadership of
the bar insists on el- Rufai.
In a letter , titled, ‘Request to Withdraw the
Offer of Platform at the 2020 Annual
General Conference of the NBA to Mallam
Nasir el – Rufai’, and addressed to the
Chairman , Technical Committee on
Conference Planning , NBA , Prof
Koyinsola Ajayi , some lawyers said the
governor must not be allowed to speak at
the conference.
The letter , which was signed by Silas Onu
and Auta Nyada , listed 10 allegations
against el – Rufai and his son, Bello, who is
a Special Adviser to Kaduna Central
lawmaker, Senator Uba Sani .
The lawyers recalled that el – Rufai had
during the run- up to the 2019 general
elections threatened that any foreigner
who interfered in the election would leave
Nigeria in “ body bags ” .
They stated that several human rights
groups had ranked el – Rufai low for his
intolerance for the opposition.
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