The Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN) has stated with regret the withdrawal of Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State as one of the speakers at the virtual annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) .
The Council in a statement by its Secretary General,Nafi’u Baba-Ahmed said that” The NBA has clearly taken sides in the Southern Kaduna crisis contrary to its members training and what it loudly preaches without listening to the narrative from the other side”
” The decision taken by the NBA to disinvite Malam Nasiru El-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State as one of the speakers at the virtual annual conference is uncharitable, regrettable and irresponsible of an institution of which I had hitherto been a proud member for over 40 years”.
” This Unfortunate development has cast a terrible smelly smear on the NBA which until recently,was controversially regarded as representing the best ideals of justice, equity and the good conscience if the society”
“We want to believe that the decision taken is not representative of all its right thinking members for clearly,it has already taken sides in the Southern Kaduna crisis,contrary to it’s members training and what it loudly preaches without listening to the narrative from the other side.”
“Clearly, lowly narrow political and religious sentiments have beclouded the judgement of the leadership of the NBA forgetting the most basic principle of their training and that its members cut across all sides of the divide.”
The Supreme Council for Sharia also expressed dismay over the decision by the Jigawa Stare branch of the NBA to boycott the conference noting that ” it is not totally unjustified in the circumstances”
The Council said it won’t be surprised if other Northern state chapters of NBA also boycott the conference to protest “the unfortunate and ill advised decision” to exclude the governor, also a member of the NBA for no justifiable reason in law or common sense.
According to it” For the association to have taken a side in a conflict in such a blatantly pedestrian manner is demeaning of its status.It is a well known fact that the farmers/herders conflict is a phenomenon ravaging the entire country, the very least one would have expected the NBA to do, is to constructively engage the government and all partners towards a resolution, not to pick one with religious and political coloration and taking sides without any fair hearing”.
The Nigerian Bar Association NBA had dropped the governor among speakers at its conference citing the Southern Kaduna crisis which generated protests and condemnation.
El Rufai had reacted to the NBA decision saying he did not seek to speak at the conference and therefore not bothered by the axe.
