The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has reacted to the controversy triggered by the decision to disinvite Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, as a speaker in one of the panel sessions at the forthcoming conference of its members.
NBA President, Paul Usoro, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), explained the rationale behind the decision of the National Executive Council of the association in a statement on Friday.
He stressed that the disinvitation of the governor from the event had no ethnic or religious coloration or connotation as being claimed.
Usoro revealed that some of those who spoke against the governor’s attendance share the same faith with him while others came from the northern part of the country.
According to him, NBA NEC is not passing any judgment on Governor El-Rufai by its decision and is not in a position to pass such judgments without having all the facts and hearing from all the sides.
The NBA chairman state that the NEC did not discuss the substance of the issues that have been raised against the governor by the different groups and persons who clamored for his being disinvited, although there was very considerable clamour” in that regard.
He insisted that the claims that the NEC decision was based on religion and ethnicity were not correct, stressing that they were far from the truth.
Usoro, who stated that neither the NBA nor its NEC belonged to any religious or ethnic group, urged the members of the association to remain united.
This year’s NBA Annual General Conference, which is the 60th, has been scheduled to take place between August 26 to 29.
