Shiites React To NBA’s Withdrawal Of El-Rufai’s Invitation, Says Governor ‘Agent Of Impunity’

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), popularly known as Shiites, has welcomed the withdrawal of Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s invitation to speak at the 2020 annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

The Shiites commended NBA for heeding the calls by lawyers and some other rights group to remove El-Rufai from the list of speakers at the event over his failure to address the killings in Southern Kaduna.

The Islamic group spoke in a letter addressed to the NBA and signed by the president of its media forum , Ibrahim Musa.

The letter reads: “The Islamic Movement noted that Governor El-Rufai is the most unsuitable person to talk to a body of learned men considering his legendary disrespect for the rule of law, blatant abuses of fundamental rights and intolerance to opposing views.

“El-Rufai has been an agent of impunity and division who supports extra-judicial killings and building of mass graves.

“He, in collaboration with officers of the Nigerian army, attacked members of the Islamic Movement, without recourse to law, leading to the gruesome extrajudicial murder of at least 347 members of the Movement (by the government’s own admission) in December 2015 and hurriedly buried them in mass graves.

“Despite the open confession by the Secretary to the Kaduna State Government, Alhaji Lawal Balarabe Abbas before a Judicial Commission of Inquiry, governor el-Rufai has refused to prosecute the criminal elements who perpetrated these crimes, but rather paradoxically filed charges of conspiracy and culpable homicide against over 250 members of the IMN at Kaduna state high courts.

“Although the Kaduna high courts have since discharged and acquitted all of them, governor el-Rufai has continued to seek further ways to subjugate and persecute members and leadership of the Movement in contravention of his oath of office to ‘do right to all manners of people according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will…’

“Certainly, such a person must not be promoted or allowed to address an Association of learned men, whose motto is “Promoting the Rule of Law.” We therefore salute your unique courage to stand firmly on the path of what you profess to promote and stamp out – impunity and gross abuse of human rights in our beloved country, which loudly proclaims to operate under the rule of law.”

THE WHISTLER had reported that Governor El-Rufai had said he was “not agitated” by the withdrawal of his invitation to speak at the NBA event, saying he “did not seek the platform” and hence was not bothered that he had “one less speaking engagement.”