The decision of the NBA NEC in removing Governor El-Rufai from the list of speakers in the upcoming AGC has continued to stir up feelings, latest is the Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria (MULAN) in Kaduna State. They have expressed their disappointment over the decision of the NBA NEC in de-inviting the Governor of the state.
Instructing its member to withdraw from the forthcoming annual conference, the MULAN, Kaduna chapter said it was left with no other option. They further called on all other Muslim Lawyers in Nigeria to join in the boycott.
Chairman of MULAN in Kaduna state, Abbas Masanawa, in a statement on Saturday, asked was NBA mute in the face of genocide going on in the North East, Banditry, and Kidnappings in Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Kebbi States, and Giwa and Birnin Gwari.
In the statement entitled MISSIVE TO THE MONSIGNORS OF NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION NEC, it stated that “the MULAN Kaduna Branch is bewildered and disappointed at the unfortunate dis-invitation of His Excellency, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, Executive Governor of Kaduna State to the Annual General Conference (AGC) of the Nigerian Bar Association, 2020.
“The said decision of the NBA NEC is deemed by MULAN Kaduna Branch as being parochial, sentimental, disuniting and tainted with favoritism and ethnoreligious considerations.”
“The MULAN Kaduna Branch has watched with dismay how the NBA has kept mute in the face of genocide going on in the North East, Banditry and Kidnappings in Katsina, Zamfara, Niger, Kebbi States, and Giwa and Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State with the NBA giving surreptitious ethnic cover to Southern Kaduna as if lives matter more in some parts of the country over the others.
”MULAN Kaduna makes bold to say that lives lost in Batsari, Katsina State far outnumbers that of 8 local governments of Southern Kaduna put together. This isn’t to say MULAN Kaduna justifies losses of lives anywhere and in any guise.”
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“MULAN Kaduna wonders where was the posturing of NBA at the many lives lost in Borno State?” “Without mincing words, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 precisely, Section 10 states in clear terms that *” the Government of Federation or of any State shall not adopt any religion as a State Religion”* We are witnesses to how Governor Nyesom Wike demolished a Mosque and came out openly to say *” I repeat once again without apologies, Rivers is a Christian State. That is why nobody can touch us”*.
”We believe that NBA NEC deemed these utterances glorious hence the lofty invitation to Nyesom Wike to use our hallowed platform to propagate his governance inklings and dis-invitation of Governor El-Rufai. MULAN Kaduna Branch believes what is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander.
“The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Paul Usoro, SAN said *” NEC’s decision yesterday had no ethnic or religious coloration or connotation howsoever and whatsoever”*. ”MULAN Kaduna Branch asks Mr. President if the topic: *Who is a Nigerian?* has anything to do with Southern Kaduna. An honest answer in this direction would reveal the clandestine motive of the NBA.”
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“The Paragraph 7of the Letter of Mr. President requesting the Governor’s Forum to communicate the dis-invitation to His Excellency, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai is certainly sinister as MULAN Kaduna wonders if the letter inviting him was routed through the Governor’s Forum in the first place! ”What stops Mr. President from sending the letter of dis-invitation to Governor El-Rufai directly? At any rate, the impression earlier created before the emergence of NBA President’s Letter to the Nigerian Governor’s Forum ( NGF) was that the decision had been communicated to Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai directly.
”There is certainly more to it than meets the eye in the circumstances and to be modest, the NBA President’s assertion as contained in the letter to the NGF cannot be far from the truth as to the ethnoreligious drive in the whole of what has played out.”
“In conclusion and in view of the unfortunate decision of the NBA NEC, MULAN Kaduna Branch is left with no option than to instruct it’s members to withdraw their participation in the forthcoming NBA AGC and enjoins all Muslim Lawyers in Nigeria to join in the boycott.”
“MULAN Kaduna Branch reaffirms their support to Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai in his efforts to stem the tide of insecurity in Kaduna State generally and Southern Kaduna in particular.” “While we pray for the repose of the souls of all the innocent victims of the gruesome killings across the country, we pray Allah SWT to grant our leaders the Will to use all the legal machineries of State in Nigeria to bring to book all perpetrators of heinous crimes and violence in Southern Kaduna in particular and Nigeria in general. Ameen.”
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