By Andrew Agbese
THE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is to hold its Annual General Conference and decided to invite some eminent persons to speak at the event.
At the end of the day, the association decided to invite Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai and former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, among others to speak at the occasion.
A certain lawyer, who was not comfortable with the inclusion of El-Rufai to speak at the occasion, wrote a petition to express his disagreement with El-Rufai’s inclusion as one of the guest speakers.
The moment the petition became public knowledge, more lawyers lined up behind him and all manners of sentiments came in.
In other words, they do not say El-Rufai is not guilty of what he is alleged to represent, neither are they insisting he should be invited, but that the NBA should have given itself the extra task of doing a petition on Obasanjo and Wike and then act upon it.
The issue became heated when the NBA, acting on the petition, decided to disinvite the Kaduna State governor.
The narrative now is that he may have been victimised based on his faith and region because, as those who argue along this line want us to believe, Wike and Obasanjo who were also invited to speak at the occasion, equally share the sins of El-Rufai hence should have also been removed.
But that is where the problem lies.
The NBA acted on a petition submitted to it by one of its members. All these while, it was public knowledge that Wike and Obasanjo have also been invited but no single petition came from any of the members of the NBA from Dutse or anyone for that matter asking the association to reconsider the selection of the duo as guest speakers.
Now a critical thinking lawyer went to work and expressed his dissatisfaction with the presence of El-Rufai at the conference and was able to convince his colleagues to agree with him that the Kaduna governor deserves no place on the high table, and the association responded by granting the demand in the petition.
Then all of a sudden, all manners of people are demanding that the NBA takes the same measure on Wike and Obasanjo. These are people who all these while saw nothing wrong with inviting Wike and Obasanjo until the NBA acted on the petition against the Kaduna governor. They say it is double standard if El-Rufai is removed while Wike and Obasanjo are allowed to speak at the occasion.
In other words, they do not say El-Rufai is not guilty of what he is alleged to represent, neither are they insisting he should be invited, but that the NBA should have given itself the extra task of doing a petition on Obasanjo and Wike and then act upon it.
This is not surprising. It is not for nothing that the North has always been considered as conservative and reactionary. The region is used to having things done for it. It normally laps up every form of repression, bad governance and dictatorship until the other regions react and wake its sensibilities. This is as good as saying that it wants others to do the thinking for it.
Going back to the El-Rufai issue, if the Dutse NBA and its members have been thinking straight, what stopped them from doing a petition on Wike or Obasanjo ab initio when their names came up as guest speakers?
This is akin to someone not taking his/her case before a court but expects judgment because a neighbour who had done his homework, filed a case and got what he demanded at the court. As lawyers, the Dutse NBA and others should have known that the court does not grant a party what it does not ask for, not to talk of when the party sits idly and took no action.
I’m not aware up to this moment, if any northerner has taken up the issue of Wike and Obasanjo on its merits rather than appealing to cheap ethnic sentiment on the basis of the fate that befell El-Rufai. Such lazy posturing should not be encouraged please.
Agbese, former Politics Editor of Daily Trust, contributed this piece from Kaduna.
