Prior to the conduct of the 2019 general elections, Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, who was the Director- General of the Muhammadu Buhari Campaign had visited Lagos in company of Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state for an interaction with journalists. During the meeting held at Eko Hotels in Victoria Island, Governor El-Rufai handed out his complimentary cards to journalists, saying they are free to reach him if they have any questions bothering their minds. ‘But please, don’t send me text messages; send me an e-mail and you will get your response within 24 hours’.
After that encounter, several e-mail enquiries sent by Daily Independent to Governor El-Rufai on his official e-mail address elrufai@kdsg.gov.ng on the situation in Southern Kaduna were not replied. That would have provided a veritable opportunity for the governor to give first-hand information on the crisis and steps he has taken so far to return normalcy.
The above scenario became necessary as a response to those faulting the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) for the dis-invitation of el-Rufai, to their forthcoming conference after protests from lawyers across the country.
| While those in support of El-Rufai said the event would have presented a golden opportunity for him to address questions on the issue, others agree with NBA, saying it has sent a strong lesson to him on public officials should conduct themselves. Even though El-Rufai was initially listed as one of the guest speakers in a session entitled ‘Who is a Nigerian?… A Debate on National Identity, the invitation was withdrawn on the strength of a petition by a group of lawyers, Open Bar Initiative, who said the governor represents the very antithesis of what they profess to defend, citing his poor human rights record and his inability to stop the killings particularly in Southern Kaduna. |
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