Hundreds of Nigerians have signed petition asking the Nigerian Bar Association to remove the Governor of Kaduna State, El-Rufai, from the list of speakers in the upcoming Annual General Conference of the NBA.
Some lawyers had earlier called on the NBA leadership to remove el-Rufai from the list of speakers due to his failure to end the killings in Southern Kaduna.
The petition, which was started by Usani Odum, has garnered nearly 500 signatures barely hours after it was initiated.
The summary of the petition read, “The senseless killings in southern Kaduna must stop. The political correctness of Governor El-Rufai on national TV is diversionary. It is a reversal to have him speak to lawyers on security, when Governor (Babagana) Zulum of Borno a better person can do so.”
“We may not be able to do anything to stop the killings, but we can stop the governor from speaking at the NBA-AGC to show our disapproval of the manner he has handled the situation!!”.
Some lawyers have noted that they will not be attending the NBA conference if El-Rufai is present at the conference.
In a letter, titled, ‘Request to Withdraw the Offer of Platform at the 2020 Annual General Conference of the NBA to Mallam Nasir el-Rufai’, and addressed to the Chairman, Technical Committee on Conference Planning, NBA, Prof Koyinsola Ajayi, some lawyers said the governor must not be allowed to speak at the conference.
The letter, which was signed by Silas Onu and Auta Nyada, listed 10 allegations against el-Rufai and his son, Bello, who is a Special Adviser to Kaduna Central lawmaker, Senator Uba Sani.
The lawyers noted that the Kaduna State Governor during the 2019 general election threatened that any foreigner who interfered in the election would leave Nigeria in “body bags”.
They stated that several human rights groups had ranked el-Rufai low for his intolerance for the opposition.
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK & FOLLOW US ON TWIITTER
