By Ebi Robert

I have keenly watched how bar-men have been throwing tantrums over the withdrawal of the invitation forwarded to Mallam Nasir El Rufai as a guest in the oncoming virtual conference of the NBA.

The reactions thus far have strengthened the assertion that ethnicity and religious bigotry has eaten deep into the fabrics of not just Nigeria, but the powwow of the noble men of the bar. I have long mentioned this elsewhere. The testimony can be located in the cyberspace.

Moving forward, irrespective of the conundrum and quagmire ressurected out of the unfortunate withdrawal, there are some salient points we must note and take strict cognizance of.

I must posit that this is not the first time bar men have argued against the extension of invitation to some personalities. Recall that just after the suspension and eventual removal of Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria, the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Muhammad Tanko, was invited to the past NBA conference to speak on the Rule of Law. This did not go down well with some lawyers who objected to the invitation, arguing that, due process was not followed before Tanko was appointed as CJ, therefore, he is not the right speaker for such a righteous topic, having played blind eyes to the unholy coronation in the jury.

President Buhari was also invited as a guest at one of the NBA conferences. During his presentation, he argued that the rule of law can be suspended for the interest of National Security. This caused some fumes in the legal community, as lawyers at different quarters registered their dissaproval over the comment. National security is so narrowly defined, so by the advocacy for a displacement? Hence, the dissaproval of El Rufai is not new, only that this is the first time lawyers are putting such to voting at NEC if I am not mistaken.

The rejection of El Rufai is not unconnected to allegations of some statements some lawyers feel he made, which is against the practice of the rule of law. Some detest his attitude and actions towards the killings already recorded at Kaduna State. Unfortunately, the action by the NBA has been interpreted and given a religious and ethnic colouration. I wish to state at this point as follows:

1. The Rejection of El Rufai is not an attempt by Christains and/or Southerners to take the Muslims and/or Northerners for a ride. If not for anything, there are also Muslims and Northerners who also rejected the invitation given to the Governor. I am aware of a Muslim lady who called for the signing of a petition to the effect. The rejection was a decision taken at NEC, based on simple majority.

2. The happenstance has proven that proper consultation wasn’t made before the guests and other speakers were selected.

To me, I feel that this is all embarrassing to the Governor. El Rufai did not invite himself. He was simply given an invitation which he honoured. It is surprising that after an invitation was given to him by a body of lawyers, the same body turned around to withdraw the invitation, and same made headlines in the country. The NBA deeply offended El Rufai, and they have done the honourable thing by apologizing. This doesn’t mean that I support any abuse of the rule of law by the Governor, if at all, it is true. It is simply that, irrespective of one’s view, the Governor is a constituted authority and should be accorded that respect. This would have been averted if proper consultation was made.

Apparently, NBA should take a hint from this event to make sure that proper consultation is made before any invitation is sent out. More so, any invitation of controversy should be subjected to voting. TCCP should learn from this as well.

3. Our brothers from the North should not misunderstood this and make a hill out of this. It will only create difference amongst members of the bar, and also send out a wrong signal to the general public. It will again reestablish the fact that even the Bar is divided along ethnic and tribal lines. Some protesters from the Northern extraction who have resolved to boycott the conference, have used Nyesom Wike as a case study, arguing that members of the bar did not show their disdain over his actions of abuse of the fundamental principle, but played a fast one on El Rufai. They sensed hypocrisy from some bar-men — righteous men on devil’s skin.

This should not be an issue. Chairmen and Secretaries of the various branches who have threatened a boycott should have done the honorable thing by raising their objection to any guest as well, and same would have been subjected to voting. Was this done against any other, other than El Rufai? I doubt!

I think NBA has learned their lessons, and I am pretty sure that subsequent matters like this would be better handled when they present themselves in the future.

Long live the Nigerian Bar Association.

Written By Ebi Robert, A Concerned Bar-Man.