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Mohammad Sanusi, former emir of Kano, has reacted on the ongoing controversy about the disinvitation of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State to participate in the Virtual Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
Sanusi who is on a one-week visit to Kaduna, told newsmen on Sunday El-Rufai has a right to fair hearing, adding that if the Kaduna Governor was seen to have erred, the conference could have been a platform to advise him rightly.
He, however, hoped the issue would not be turned to ethnicity and religious matter but of principle.
“I’m aware that the vast majority of NBA members do not agree with those things,” said the deposed Kano emir.
“You know if you have an opinion, people will either agree with you or disagree with you but a man who has an opinion that can be agreed with or disagreed with is always better than a man who has no opinion at all.
“Nasir always has opinions. He knows what his positions are on things. He says that position very clearly. People will like it, some people will not like it and that is what some people call controversial and being controversial is actually having an opinion.
”To be honest I do not want to join issues because we have already heard the views of Nigerians and the response.
“Everybody has a right to a fair hearing, and most importantly for me, if you feel that the Governor of Kaduna State is not doing right you should invite him to your covers and ask him to explain what he is doing.
“Tell him what you think (he) is doing wrong and you will learn something from him and he will learn something from you.
“That is the best way to handle issues like this. But again, I have seen the response from different branches of NBA and I hope this matter will not be turned to ethnicity and religious matter. It should be a matter of principle.”
Governor El-Rufai’s invitation to speak at the NBA conference was withdrawn after some lawyers kicked against his participation which drew the ire of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) who described the action as a high level prejudice, adding that it has further exposes the association’s impatience, intolerance and self-concept.
Paul Usoro, NBA president, Saturday apologised to the Kaduna Governor, explaining that Governor El-Rufai’s invitation was strongly opposed by some members of the NBA and after the issue was put up for a vote by the BAR National Executive Committee (NEC) during its teleconference meeting, those against the Governor had the majority.
