El-Rufai: Amid Calls To Boycott Conference, NBA Records Highest Attendance In History, Says Official

Despite the calls in some quarters to boycott the ongoing 60th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), the attendance recorded is so far the highest, an official has said.

NBA’s Assistant Publicity Secretary, Akorede Habeeb Lawal, in an exclusive chat with THE WHISTLER , stated that the attendance this year was record-breaking.

Recall that the NBA’s leadership had dis-invited the Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-rufai, from the list of speakers at the event, owing to the deteriorating security situation in Southern Kaduna.

According to the NBA President, Paul Usoro, “NEC merely made a judgment that it was not in the best interest of the association to be engulfed in the controversy that trailed the invitation of Mallam El-Rufai for the conference and that it was best if the safety-valve of dis-inviting the Governor was applied.”

Usoro also stressed that there was no ethno-religious connotation to its decision.

The development came after widespread criticisms and petitions against featuring El-rufai.

But, this was not well-received by some lawyers in parts of the country, who had frowned on the NBA’s decision, thereby threatening to boycott the conference.

On his part, the governor was not happy with the way NBA treated him, but said he would continue to do his best for Kaduna state and the country at large.

On Wednesday, Lawal, replying our correspondent’s questions, explained that the conference was vetted by membership attendance.

He added that with over 23,000 attendees at this year’s virtual conference, it was the highest in NBA’s history.

He said, “Branches do not attend NBA conference, members do.

“With an attendance of 23,637 which may expectedly rise to 25,000, this is the most attended conference in the history of the NBA.

” Thank you.”