The 60th NBA Annual General Congress (AGC) that was concluded on Saturday may have left the bar on the brink of another crisis after the last one that ushered in the new President, Olumide Akpata writes ACTING EDITOR, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM
Last week, the legal sector in the country witnessed another round of crisis when the dis-invitation of the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai threw the national leadership of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and its affiliate bodies across the states and regions in the country into turmoil of sort with the emergence of a parallel NBA in the country.
Coming few days to the yet to be settled leadership crisis that rocked the NBA over the election of its new president, Olumide Akpata, many analysts and practitioners have already viewed the issue as a potential banana peel if not well handled that could lead to the polarisation of the bar if the vibes from different circles in the country are anything to go by. Already Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has already said dismissed such parallel body.
In withdrawing the governor who was scheduled to speak on the topic: ‘Who is a Nigerian?… A Debate on National Identity’, at the lawyers’ conference, the NBA only said the message would be communicated to him later.
The 60th NBA annual general conference, its first-ever virtual event, is themed: ‘Step Forward.’
Other speakers include Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra State and vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party at the 2019 election; Tunde Bakare, a Cleric and chairman, African Advisory Council of the Royal Commonwealth Society; Oby Ezekwesili, an activist and former federal minister; and Salamatu Suleiman, the immediate past ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security.
The list also include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and Tanko Muhammad, the Chief Justice of Nigeria; Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president; Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president; and Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation among others.
The inclusion of El-Rufai had drawn a lot of criticisms from both lawyers and human rights activists with many questioning his human rights records and commitment to the rule of law. They also accused him of not doing enough to end the killings in the southern part of his state, Kaduna.
It was the former Emir of Kano and a close friend of el-Rufai who rose in the defence of his ally during a visit to Kaduna state, his first since his dethronement to the northwestern region. Sanusi who faulted the NBA decision to withdraw the invitation to the governor described it as sad for the freedom of speech in Nigeria and cautioned the NBA against allowing the issue controversy surrounding the issue to take a religious or ethnic dimension.
In his response to the issue, El-Rufai said NBA was ‘unfair and unjust’ in its action and accused the national bar of embracing a “one-sided narrative” after the lawyers’ body bowed to pressure on the issue.
In a statement, the governor said he had accepted the invitation to participate in the conference as part of his commitment to having a national conversation and the evolution of a national consensus.
“NBA platform or not, these worthy conversations must continue. He will continue to make his voice heard on the things our country needs to do for its progress. While the decision about who speaks at its event is clearly the NBA’s, Mallam El-Rufai wishes to make it clear that he did not seek the platform and is not agitated that he has one less speaking engagement.” Muyiwa Adekeye, Mr El-Rufai’s aide, said in the statement.
Although the out-gone president of the NBA, Paul Usoro (SAN) apologised to el-Rufai over the issue, the decision on the Governor stood. According to Usoro in a letter to the Governor’s Forum, “A majority of the members of the Nigerian Bar Association’s National Executive Committee voted in favour of dis-inviting Governor Nasir El-Rufai to the association’s annual general conference, Paul Usoro, the NBA president, said in a letter to the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, on Friday.
According to Mr Usoro, “There was indeed a motion that was moved and seconded to that effect. Those who spoke in favour of his attendance, including me, were in the minority. I was personally placed in a very difficult and problematic position.
“Mallam Nasir El-Rufai is a friend that I have known as long ago as the early 1980s and we do have some very close mutual friends. And yet, I am bound, as an elected president of the NBA, by decisions and directives of NEC to whom I am answerable in my official capacity.”
Aside from the issue of Southern Kaduna crises, other matters human right matters that was raised against the Kaduna State Governor was contained in a protest letter which emanated from the office of Falana & Falana Chambers signed by its principal partner, Femi Falana. According to the letter dated August 19, 2020 addressed to the chairman of the Technical/Conference Planning Committees of the NBA, titled “Re-2006 Boycott of Courts by Nigerian Lawyers to Protest Disobedience of Court Orders by El-Rufai & Others”,
“Following the directive of the NBA, the entirety of the Nigerian lawyers boycotted all courts in the country from March13-14, 2006 to protest the disobedience of court orders by some officials and agencies of the federal government. 3 out of 8 orders listed by the NBA at the material time were flagrantly disobeyed by the administration of the federal capital territory under the leadership of Mr El-Rufai.
“Embarrassed by the popular protest embarked upon by the NBA, the FG directed then AG and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN) to ensure compliance with the orders that were being disobeyed. It is on record that while other agencies and department complied with the court orders, the FCT ignored the directive of the FG to kowtow to the rule of law. As if that was not enough, Mallam El-Rufai has continued to treat orders with absolute contempt’ ”, the opening paragraphs of the letter read.
The letter continued that “You will agree with us that El-Rufai’s penchant for disobeying court orders is inconsistent with the NBA’s aims and objectives which include promotion and protection of Rule of Law, See Article 3 of the 1999 constitution of the NBA.
“Since the conference planning committee is bound by provisions of the NBA invitation extended to El-Rufai should be withdrawn as the NBA cannot afford to associate with public officers who promote impunity in the country.
“For your kind attention and urgent action kindly find attached the report of Mr R.A Lawal-Rabana (now SAN), then General Secretary of NBA”, the latter added.
But just as the former Emir of Kano warned, the issue has snowballed and degenerated into religious and regional crisis within the NBA as groups and individuals have reacted to the development which may have prompted the former NBA President, Usoro to call for unity during his message on the opening day of AGC.
“As a Bar, we must not be divided along ethnic or religious lines; as an association we have survived those things that threatened to divide us and we must continue to abide by same.
“The theme of this year’s conference is a reminder for us to “step forward” after 60 years of conferencing, and face the future”, he noted.
However, the appeal may have fallen on deaf ears. It was regional NBA associations in the north that first raised the dust in this regard with Bauchi, Jigawa and Yobe jurisdictions all threatening boycott of the conference if the decision was not reversed and Muslim lawyers demanded the disinvitation of Tony Blair, Obasanjo and Wike alongside other scheduled speakers.
In separate statements, the NBA branches expressed displeasure with the decision of the association’s leadership describing it as been “…against the pillars of natural justice on the presumption of innocent and fair hearing as enshrined in constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and equal opportunity to all citizens of this country,” read the statement of the Yobe branch of the NBA, signed by its chairman, Usman Lukman.
“At no time during the NEC meeting that our NEC members from Damaturu branch were afforded (the) right to vote on these resolutions which we consider as thin air, lies and deception against the person of Mal Nasir El-Rufai”, it added.
Further, the issue has also caused ripples in Kwara as lawyers have expressed divergent opinions on the matter.
It was National President of the Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria (MULAN), ironically a Kwaran, that first set the tempo with the Muslims body reaction to the issue.
In a statement signed by the group’s president, Prof Abdulqadir Abikan and its secretary, Ibrahim Alasa,
MULAN accused the NBA of “selective justice and a slant application of the rule of law” over the issue and therefore, demanded that the NBA either “cancel the session on which Mallam El-Rufai was to speak, or disinvite any speaker(s) who has a record of human right violation and disregard for the rule of law or has been indicted anywhere for acts of war or other despicable conduct.”
In the statement titled “Selective Justice is an Injustice, Human Rights and Rule of Law are Colour Blind: Awakening Call to the Nigerian Bar Association.”
Clarifying that it was “not speaking on behalf of Mallam El-Rufai who is eminently capable of reacting to the unfortunate development,” MULAN said it was “concerned” that the decision of NBA on the matter seemed “not properly thought-out, reeked of unwarranted sentiments, is antithetical to the rule of law and inconsistent with the aims and objectives of the NBA.”
“While agreeing with the NBA President’s earlier position that it is not for the association “to look into the veracity of the allegations” levied against the governor, MULAN said it is, however, “constrained to speak out against selective justice and a slant application of the rule of law to satisfy pre-determined goals as happened in this case.”
The Muslim lawyers said the NBA compromised its neutrality because “there are worse perceived violators of Human Rights and the rule of law both locally and internationally also speaking at the same conference.”
It said it observed, “after going through the proceeding that led to the disinviting Mr El-Rufai, that some individuals in the NBA took advantage of the NBA platform to ventilate personal and political vendetta on behalf of some persons in the country.”
“The review revealed that few individuals who have personal and political differences with Mallam El-Rufai allied with some of the leaders of the Bar and took advantage of the eminent NEC platform to actualise their personal pursuit.”
It alleged that the NBA president “hurriedly overruled “the Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP)” without recourse to the “the grave danger of bad precedent to be set by the decision.
“He only relied on the number of people ‘selected to speak’ to reach a decision on a matter he acknowledged to be controversial.”
MULAN, however, said it was “worried that the decision has plunged the noble Bar into deeper controversies than the presumptive one created by the petition.”
“This is because some of the local and international figures, having same or worse credentials in stirring controversies than the target, who are Speakers at the AGC were left untouched.”
MULAN said if NBA wants to live up to its mantra as indicated by the dis-invitation of Mr El-Rufai, it should also honour the petition sent to its Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP) on August 23 by the Justice Concerned Lawyers’ Forum (JCL).
It noted that the petition by JCL demanded that “former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Nyesom Wike should be disinvited as Speakers at the Conference.
In his submission on the issue, Rasaq Gold said “El-Rufai was not treated well by the NBA leadership. If he was allowed to come and present a paper at the conference, they can use that opportunity to challenge him if we believe he has been abusing human right in the state. That would have been an opportunity for us to challenge him and let him offer response. Withdrawing his invitation in the first place which I don’t ascribed to means that we bowed to pressure over the issue which we should not as legal practitioners.
“We should expect that some other lawyers who are also loyal to el-Rufai will also clamour that other invitees who also have human issues should also not be allowed to stay. Although I don’t have the basic reason why he was disinvited, if we have read is anything to go by, he was not treated well. I don’t see anybody among his critics filling any process against El-Rufai yet including Femi Falana that we are talking about. So what are we talking about? According to our constitution, human right infraction does not have status of limitation or issue of locus standi as you can fight it on behalf of anybody. They have turned everything into a political game.
“On the issue of boycott, it cannot solve a problem. It is when you attend that you can be able to express you view and at the end of the day, what they agreed on is binding on you. I wouldn’t advice on boycott if I am within the segment interested in boycotting. There are other things that we can and we can even fight the issue there”, he added.
But according to the Kwara State leader of the Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria (CLASFON), Bar Ronke AdeyemI, “I was shocked to read a lot of comments by our colleagues online contending that in the spirit of “audi alterem pertem” Gov El-Rufai should be allowed to come and speak to us so “we can hear his own side”. I don’t think such people understand what our grouse with the choice of Gov El-Rufai is. The man is presiding over a failed state. “So what exactly is he coming to talk to us about? He is the Chief Security Officer of a State where hundreds of lives have been lost in such a brazen manner, in saner climes he would have resigned from office. He ought to be ashamed of his failure to secure the lives of the citizens of his State. That throws him up as an incompetent Governor which makes us wonder what exactly he’s coming to talk to us about. It’s sad that the NBA has chosen to showcase this kind of a leader, very unethical! What are we going to learn from him? How to justify failure or incompetence? Unfortunately the word “shame” is not in our dictionary here.
“For me, whether Gov El-Rufai has a hand in the killing of his people in Kaduna or not I don’t know and that is not the basis of my objection to his invitation to the NBA conference. My objection is rooted in the fact that he’s an incompetent governor who has grossly failed to secure the lives and properties of his people which is the most basic of all his assignments as a governor. He’s not a fit and proper person to address any gathering, especially the gathering of lawyers. My view as expressed has nothing to do with my faith. I said a governor who cannot secure the lives of the people of his state should not be held up before us. That’s all! We should not continue to celebrate mediocrity. It is not about his faith, it is not about the faith of the people being killed, and it is about his failure as a chief executive of his state. To secure the lives of his people is the most important part of his job and he’s not able to do that. You said the problems have been there since 1992 yet he came in with no plan to solve the problem. He “will not appease the war merchants” he also has no other plan about how to stop them. He will let them kill as many as they can, so that one day they will be tired of killing and then stop. Let’s learn to celebrate and hold up only shining lights. That’s the best way to encourage excellence.
On the concerns that the issue may lead to the polarisation of the bar Adeyemi said “Why should the issue of inviting or disinviting a speaker at a conference polarise the Bar. Is El Rufai a lawyer? Why are the northerners and Muslims always eager to fight over everything? Are we truly one nation? Is El Rufai the first speaker to be invited and disinvited to an NBA program? Anyone that wants to leave the NBA because of that is free to go away. The less parochial, narrow-minded people we have in the association the better.
