NBA’s faux pas

Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win – Jonathan Kozel

I devoted some considerable time thinking of a title that will do justice to the substance of my comments on the fiasco that was triggered when the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) decided to cancel its invitation to Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai to its virtual Annual National Convention(ANC) as a panellist. I have spent the last few days on social media platforms engaging a very wide spectrum of legal minds (including some of the worst ambassadors of the legal profession) after I  posted an opinion that the NBA did more damage to itself than to Governor el-Rufai in the manner it (mis)managed the entire invitation saga.

Before then, I had to do a lot of thinking. As many people know, I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a fan of the persona, style and disposition of el-Rufai. I did not want to appear to be engaged in public relations for a man who does not believe he needs any. I have serious issues about the manner he handles sensitive issues, and I have not been shy in expressing my views. Last week on this page, I made the case that el-Rufai’s combative personality is ill-suited for engaging the deeply complex factors at play in current conflicts involving communities in Southern Kaduna in the short term, and the building of the foundations of sustainable peace in the longer term. Fortunately, I am not a lawyer, and my opinion, therefore, would not have been sought or considered relevant on the value or otherwise of taking up a governor whose oxygen is ruffled feathers, by an organisation that itself leaks integrity at irregular intervals.

There must be a few people in the NBA who would rue the entire saga, although given what appears to be mountains of muck from accumulated ethno-partisan-regional divisions in the Association, no one would blame them for keeping their heads down. There appear to have been a number of major missteps to this untidy end. Gov el-Rufai was invited as a guest. This was a decision that ought not to have been taken lightly if the people entrusted with inviting him shared NBA leadership’s aversion to hosting panellists with records that fell below the approval limits of senior lawyers. At the point when the NBA NEC was to take a decision, one imagines that discussions included considerations that NBA leadership will come under very close scrutiny in terms of its decisions either way.

Internally, it would have had to deal with a legion of very influential lawyers who had been roughing it up with el-Rufai for some considerable time and those who bear fresh scars from recent altercations with him or his policies. These will relish any opportunity to hit a moving target and dent his seemingly defiant armour with a withdrawal of the invitation. They would have prepared a whole battery of reasons to make the governor look worse, and elevate the NBA as the grand custodian of the nation’s hallowed values, the unlikely last-man-standing in the fight against impunity and insensitivity of leadership. On the other hand, there might have been voices that cautioned against a backlash that would, among others, cost the NBA some credibility in its organisational capacities and raise uncomfortable questions regarding the validity of the motives behind the decision.

Externally, the leadership must have known that the nation would be a key spectator and even a judge in this saga. El-Rufai may drag behind him ubiquitous baggage made up mainly of his ego and a brand of leadership that alienates all but a tiny circle of benefactors, but in a nation where nothing is innocent of ethno-religious and regional paddings, fighting him with tainted weapons will only play into his hands. To reel off a long list of sins starting from his days as minister of FCT and end with an indictment of his response and responsibility to the Southern Kaduna killings was bound to split the NBA’s potential support base. To banish him without a hearing as punishment for serial ‘offences’ rather than ‘docking’ him over them will offend those who value principles of fair hearing. There is a gamble that he will be shamed and badly damaged politically, and, who knows, there could even be a few who may have hoped that the punishment may force him to look for peace and security for Southern Kaduna with greater levels of diligence and fairness.

The NBA may or may not have engaged on much contemplation over the consequences of withdrawing the invitation, but it must have expected an earful of reactions. Some members of the legal profession rejoiced at what appeared like a bloodied nose on a man it says had defied court orders, showed contempt for decorum in his media outings, abandoned selected communities in Southern Kaduna to killers and scored very high on impunity index among all Nigerian leaders, past and present. Others who wanted a stamp of dignity on an awkward position of the NBA say the decision will send a strong signal to other leaders to show more respect to accountability and respect for rule of law. Less discreet but louder voices, however, were very clear: this was one for some communities in Southern Kaduna.

Governor El-Rufai has been the sole architect of his infamy, but the NBA’s decision has created for him new friends and more enemies. It did not help the case of the NBA that even its leadership was not solidly behind the decision, and the crude effort at damage control when   Muslim lawyers were asked to nominate another Muslim panellist to take el-Rufai’s place backfired. As should be expected in a nation with multiple fault lines daily getting wider, religion and region quickly found pride of places in the controversy. A lynching party lined up to rally support for the dis-invitation and the humbling of el-Rufai at about the same time as others who felt that the politics around Southern Kaduna has been smuggled into NBA rallied against the Association.

The real loser in this drama is not el-Rufai. He is likely to play to character and dig in on the path he chose around Kaduna State. He has not lost what he never had nor craved: an overwhelming, popular endorsement as a compassionate leader who is guided for more than his gut instinct. He will be reinforced in his conviction that opportunists and interests that make political and financial capital are at play in Southern Kaduna, and they will neither intimidate him nor get him to buy them off. He will insist that he has done his best, and do more of the same. The NBA has not lost what it never had, either. Some of the people invited to the Convention will not score higher than el-Rufai in the respect for rule of law and personal disposition towards conflict resolution index either. It periodically papers huge cracks in its foundational values and will not win medals in surviving some of the weaknesses that have held back the nation from improving its cohesion and consistently hold leaders to account.

The real loser is the vital cause for peace, security and justice in Kaduna State and in particular, Southern Kaduna. Communities living in fear of killers or digging up weapons to fight back or protect themselves have now been plunged deeper into a vortex of hate and fear by politics involving elites far away from their circumstances. Ethno-religious politics have been at the root of the basic character of most of the conflicts that had taken lives in most in Kaduna. The only way to address this age-old problem is to deploy the political process, but reduce the place of religion and ethnic politics in it. The controversy triggered by the NBA has widened the involvement of more Nigerians who have taken up divisive roles around the fate of frightened and traumatised Christian and Muslim communities in Southern Kaduna. This is a real tragedy. A people desperate for security and peace are now pawns in a game that will soon forget them. The man at the eye of the storm, el-Rufai, must rise to the challenge to defy dire predictions and insinuations that he lost the war to secure and bring peace to communities that have no options than to live at peace with each other.