What is your business with religious matters? — Sharia Council fumes at NBA

The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA's decision to cancel Governor Nasir El-Rufai's invitation as one of its speakers at its 60th annual conference, following a petition from lawyers who accused the governor of human rights violation and also his inability to stop kiIIings in Southern Kaduna, has somewhat degenerated into what can be described as a religious and regional war in the country.


While the North appears to have sided with the Kaduna State Governor, a disclosure by the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN), accusing the NBA's of religious sentiment, has suggested the whole bases of the NBA's decision is motivated by religion.

Since the ongoing southern Kaduna crisis is one of the bases of the NBA's decision to rescind El-Rufai's participation in the Bars annual conference, it then suggests that unlike the popular narrative that the Southern Kaduna attacks were being carried out by bandits, the attacks are purely religious.

The Islamic body said politics and religious sentiments have beclouded the judgement of the leadership of the NBA ‘forgetting the most basic principle of their training.’



The council in a statement by its Secretary-General, Nafi’u Baba-Ahmed stated that the “NBA has clearly taken sides in the Southern Kaduna crisis contrary to it’s members training and what it loudly preaches without listening to the narrative from the other side.”

According to him, “The decision taken by the NBA to disinvite Malam Nasiru El-Rufai, the Executive Governor of Kaduna State as one of the speakers at its virtual annual conference is to be charitable, regrettable and irresponsible of an institution of which I had hitherto been a proud member for over 40 years.

“This unfortunate development has cast a terrible smelly smear on the NBA which, until recently, was controversially regarded as representing the best ideals of justice, equity and the good conscience of the society.


“We want to believe that the decision taken is not representative of all its right-thinking members for clearly, it has already taken sides in the Southern Kaduna crisis, contrary to it’s members training and what it loudly preaches without listening to the narrative from the other side.

“Clearly, lowly narrow political and religious sentiments have beclouded the judgement of the leadership of the NBA forgetting the most basic principle of their training and that its members cut across all sides of the divide.”

He expressed pain over the decision by the Jigawa State branch of the NBA to boycott the conference adding, “We also believe it is not totally unjustified in the circumstance.”




“We will not be surprised if other Northern state chapters of NBA do boycott the conference too to protest this unfortunate and ill-advised decision to exclude the governor, also a member of the NBA for no justifiable reason in law or common sense.

“For the association to have taken a side in a conflict in such a blatantly pedestrian manner is demeaning of its status. It is well-known fact that the farmers/herders conflict is a phenomenon ravaging the entire country, the very least one would have expected the NBA to do, is to constructively engage the government and all parties towards a resolution; not to pick one with religious and political coloration and taking sides without any fair hearing,” he stated.