Following the removal of Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai from the list of speakers at the annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), some aggrieved Northern lawyers have pulled out of the group and formed a new body to be known as the New Nigerian Bar Association.
The NBA on August 20, withdrew its invitation to Governor El-Rufai to speak at the annual conference after some lawyers protested against his invite.
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The lawyers criticised El-Rufai over the killings in Southern Kaduna, alleged disdain for court orders and other things happenings in the state.
However, some members of the Jigawa and Bauchi state chapter of the NBA have now pulled out of the union over the cancellation of the governor’s invite.
In a statement jointly signed by Nuhu Ibrahim and Abdulbasit Suleiman, the new association said recent developments within the NBA have “exposed the inability of the NBA to manage and contain the heterogeneity of its members as well as their various interests”.
New Nigerian Bar Association stated;
As a body of lawyers who have undergone training towards ensuring the promotion and protection of human rights and liberties, the NBA is supposed to live above sentiments, regionalism and discrimination on any basis and of any kind.
Therefore, the NBA cannot afford to be seen not to be upholding the rights and freedom of its own members if at all, it should be seen to be practising what it preaches.
It added;
The New Nigerian Bar Association have been watching the activities of the NBA, an association we all looked forward to joining with high hopes before being called to the Nigerian Bar, forcing idiosyncrasies of few on the majority of its members, especially in recent times.
New Nigerian Bar Association expressed that;
No wonder, NBA NEC, which is the highest decision-making organ of the association failed to uphold the fundamental principles of fair hearing which in itself, is the fundamental aspect of Rule of Law, on the allegations against the Executive Governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai as were contained in a petition by Chidi Odinkalu Esq. a long-time foe of His Excellency and a lawyer of eastern extraction, but the NBA failed to extend the same treatment to Southern invitees who were also petitioned and are also alleged to have committed similar or more human rights abuses than those alleged against Mallam El-Rufai.
The new association stressed that NBA mandatory membership is against the provisions of the constitution which recognises freedom of membership of every association, as provided in section 40.
The aggrieved lawyers argued that their interests are no longer taken into consideration in major decisions of the NBA hence the formation of the new association.
