Africa Press-Nigeria:
The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has reacted to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)’s withdrawal of its invitation of Governor Nasir El-Rufai to its 2020 Annual General Conference (AGC).
The NBA had on Thursday, August 20, withdrawn El-Rufai’s invitation following outrage by some of its members and a section of the public
The lawyers had kicked against the choice of the governor of Kaduna state as a speaker, saying he “represents the very antithesis of what we profess to defend.”
El-Rufai’s withdrawal: Boycott NBA conference – MURIC tells northern lawyers. Photo credit: Governor Nasir El-Rufai
Source: Facebook
However, reacting to the development, MURIC in a statement signed by its director on Friday, August 21, Professor Ishaq Akintola, described the NBA’s action as “parochial, myopic and jejune.”
The Islamic human rights organisation said the withdrawal of El-Rufai’s invitation exposed the NBA’s impatience, intolerance and self-conceit.
“By dropping El-Rufai, NBA has declared war on the other side in the Southern Kaduna crisis. By so doing, it lost a golden chance to be part of the solution to the conflict. NBA has elected to be part of the problem,” MURIC said.
Legit.ng notes that part of agitations against Governor El-Rufai’s invitation is his alleged poor handling of the Southern Kaduna killings.
The Muslim group wondered why the NBA would exclude El-Rufai but retains the invitation of former president Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state who have also been accused of constitutional infractions.
The group, therefore, called on lawyers from northern part of the country to boycott the NBA’s conference in protest against the “open declaration of war on Northern Kaduna.”
