The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has reacted to the withdrawal of his invitation as a speaker at the 60th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), saying the association breached the rule of fair hearing by not hearing his own side of the story.
In a statement issued by the governor’s Media Adviser, Muyiwa Adekeye, El-Rufai accused the NBA of taking its decision without hearing his own side, thereby embracing injustice unfairness and blatant disregard for the rule of law having accepted the invitation.
The National Executive Council of the association decided to withdraw the invitation extended to the governor at its conference following a petition and campaign of a lawyers group, Open Bar Initiative (OBI) which accused El-Rufai of gross abuse of human rights and the spate of killings in Southern Kaduna.
The group further wrote a petition to the Chairman, Technical Committee on Conference Planning, Prof Konyinsola Ajayi and mobilized almost 5000 lawyers to sign the petition.
