NBA Removes El-Rufai as Conference Speaker after Lawyers Threatened Boycott

Malik Yahya/

The National Executive Committee  (NEC) of the Nigeria Bar Association has voted to remove Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, as a speaker at the 60th Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) annual conference starting on August 26.

The decision followed protest by lawyers who insisted that El-Rufai should be removed fro the list of speakers at the conference due to the killings in Southern Kaduna and his record for disregarding rule of law.

The NBA confirmed this development on its Twitter handle, today.

“The National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association at its ongoing meeting resolves that the invitation to the Kaduna State Governor, H.E. Nasir El-Rufai by the 2020 Annual General Conference Planning committee be withdrawn and decision communicated to the Governor,” NBA said.

Alos, the Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP), in reaction, said it welcomed the decision by the NBA to withdraw its invitation to the Kaduna State governor on ground of poor human rights record and also called on the NBA not to invite any representatives of the Nigerian Government to its events until President Muhammadu Buhari obeys all outstanding court orders

Lawyers on Tuesday threatened to boycott the event if El-Rufai was not removed as one of the speakers.

Open Bar Initiative, a voluntary advocacy and justice initiative for lawyers across Nigeria had also in a statement stated that it was important for the NBA under the leadership of the president-elect, Olumide Akpata to remove El-Rufai from people scheduled to speak at the conference, citing the spate of insecurity in Kaduna State among other reasons.