The Muslim Lawyers’ Association of Nigeria (MULAN) has called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to remove former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike from the list of speakers for the body’s upcoming annual general conference.
Their requests come after NBA removed Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai from being part of speakers at the conference following outcry over his inclusion due to the ongoing killings in Southern Kaduna and his alleged disregard for human rights.
The NBA’s 60th conference holds from August 26 to 29 with speakers such as Vice President Yemi Osibanjo, Speaker of House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief Justice of Nigeria Tanko Muhammad, Obasanjo, Wike, Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami among others.
However, MULAN president Ibrahim Abikan told PUNCH via telephone on Saturday that his association objected to having Obasanjo and Wike as speakers at the conference because they were allegedly guilty of the same allegations against El-Rufai.
Mr Abikan said the outgoing NBA president Paul Usoro contacted MULAN to suggest an alternative “Northern Muslim speaker” following the dis-invitation of El-Rufai.
He said: “MULAN didn’t suggest or recommend El-Rufai to be one of the speakers, so, we wonder why we were approached to come up with an alternative Northern Muslim governor to replace El-Rufai.
“We insist that if any standard is set for withdrawing El-Rufai, the same should apply to other speakers too.
“El-Rufai is a public officer and any other person who has the same record of allegations of human rights abuses should also be disqualified.
“People have started forwarding petitions to me of allegations of human rights abuses and disrespect for the rule of law against Obasanjo and Wike. They have started forwarding it to NBA Conference Planning Committee and the NBA as a body.
“Our position is that whoever is going to be speaker should be able to give us quality presentation.”
The immediate-past president of MULAN Funminiyi Adeleke told the newspaper that Wike ought to be disqualified for declaring Rivers a Christian state “which is an affront to Section 10 of the Nigerian Constitution which states that no state shall adopt a religion as the state religion”.
