23rd August,
2020
PRESS RELEASE:
EL-RUFAI: WE REJECT NBA’S DIVIDE ET
IMPERA - MURIC
An Islamic human rights group, the Muslim Rights
Concern (MURIC) said it has uncovered a subterranean attempt by the Nigerian
Bar Association (NBA) to replace Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State with the
Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum. Recall that a tornado
of criticism greeted NBA’s dropping of El-Rufai from the list of speakers at
its 2020 Virtual Annual General Conference (AGC) which is billed to take place
from 26th to 29th August, 2020.
Meanwhile MURIC, which previously called on Northern
lawyers to boycott the conference has cautioned NBA against any attempt to
divide Nigerian Muslims. The group also asked the conference organisers to
disinvite Governor Wike of Rivers State in view of the latter’s acts of executive
impunity. These were contained in a press statement issued by the Director of
the organisation, Professor Ishaq Akintola, on Sunday, 23rd August,
2020.
“The alleged attempt to replace Governor El-Rufai
with the Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum has already
failed. It is sheer divide et impera. It is dead on arrival. It has
suffered the same fate as attempts to separate Muslims of the South from their
brothers in the North. It will never work.
“The hadith describes
Muslims as a single building wherein all parts of the structure support one
another or as the anatomy of a man in whom all other parts feel the pain
whenever a single part suffers dislocation. Our message to NBA is this: You
cannot honour a Muslim to add salt to the injury of another Muslim.
“NBA wants to rob Peter to pay Paul. It has
backfired. Already, some states in Northern Nigeria have already threatened to
pull out of the fast-approaching virtual conference of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) over the dropping of Governor Nasir El-Rufai from the list of
speakers. These include Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna and still counting.
“Our advice to the NBA leadership
is to do the needful. Apologise to El-Rufai and re-invite him. He has been
unjustly treated. NBA still has 72 hours to go. It is not too late to eat the
humble pie. NBA acted in bad faith. The planning committee should have done its
home work properly. It is a failure of logistics.
Besides, it is extremely
immoral to ask El-Rufai to stay away after inviting him in the first place. Afterall,
he did not lobby for the lecture. Put yourselves in his place and stop
grandstanding. Or was the invitation a trap all along? Was it an attempt to
score Southern Kaduna another undeserved political point? If so, it is a gross
miscalculation. NBA must go back to the drawing board.
MURIC also decried the inclusion of Governor Nyesom
Wike in the list of speakers at the conference.
“NBA has no business inviting Governor Nyesom Wike
of Rivers State to speak at its conference. Wike’s excesses are legend. When it
comes to democratic norms, Wike is a square peg, NBA is a round hole. Wike and
NBA should not be seen together.
“Wike is a serial violator
of the constitution. How can the NBA have anything to do with a governor who
declared his state a Christian state contrary to Section 10 of the 1999
Nigerian Constitution which forbids such? On the strength of that illegal,
unlawful, illegitimate and unconstitutional declaration, the Trans Amadi Mosque
was demolished in August 2019.
“The demolition of Prudent Hotel, Alode in Eleme
and Etemeteh Hotel in Onne on 10th May, 2020 by Wike’s bulldozers should
have served as caution for NBA. The conference organisers should not have
touched Wike with a long pole. Wike is unpredictable. He has no respect for either
rule of law or protocol.
“We remind NBA of the April 8, 2020 Caverton
helicopter saga in which Wike jailed two pilots and their ten passengers for
six weeks in spite of appeals from several quarters. We are disappointed that NBA
is romancing with a power-drunk leader. It is better for NBA leadership to ride
on the back of a tiger than to allow an unpredictable governor to speak at its
conference.
“Again, how innocent is Wike in the ‘Rivers of
blood’ hullabaloo? Is NBA endorsing all these executive recklessness? Is NBA
also waging war on Islam? Why wasn’t Wike’s act of impunity considered before
he was invited? Nigerian Muslims strongly oppose the invitation extended to
Governor Wike. He is coming to vomit deadlier venom on Islamdom. NBA leadership
has a moral burden and the vicarious responsibility for any untoward utterance
of Wike at the conference.
“By asking Wike to speak at this august gathering
in August, NBA has endorsed fascism and totalitarian dictatorship in the
Nigerian political architecture. If the law body cannot dissociate itself from Wike’s
political fiefdom by stopping him from speaking at its conference, disinviting
El-Rufai is the Mother of All Injustice.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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