Senior lawyers were sharply divided yesterday on whether the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) Conference scheduled for Sokoto between May 22 and 26 should hold in the city following the lynching of Deborah by her schoolmates.
On Thursday, activist-lawyer, Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa, SAN, in a statement called on the Chairman of NBA-SPIDEL, Monday Ubani, to consider cancellation of the conference or move it to another northern state.
“I humbly urge NBA-SPIDEL not to hold any meeting or conference in the state where a Nigerian citizen has been brutally murdered and burnt to death. It is barbaric and lawyers should not be seen dancing on her grave in that state,” he said.
Adegboruwa added: “We should make a statement to the government by canceling the conference and hold it in a neighboring state in the North.
But replying in a Facebook post, Ubani urged caution on the delicate issue. While condemning the murder, the SPIDEL Chairman also condemned Adegboruwa’s call.
Ubani said: “Gentlemen, let us all be circumspect over the sad Sokoto incident. The barbaric killing is condemnable as no individual has any right under our present jurisprudence to take life except in accordance with due process.
“Assuming but not conceding that the said lady has committed a written and known crime, the state alone has the requisite power to prosecute and punish the alleged crime. Extra judicial killing is not allowed by our laws.
“Having said that, it will be preposterous for someone who is a lawyer to be suggesting that we should cancel our conference that is billed to take place in Sokoto because of the acts of law breakers in the state.”
He said he had sent a text to Governor (Aminu Tambuwal) and the AG and “requested for a statement that our safety is guaranteed.
“I am in touch with the President of the Bar, Mr Olumide Akpata, and if there is any need to take a drastic decision about the conference in Sokoto, we will ensure prompt communication to the constituency.
“It is absolutely wrong for our colleagues without locus to be calling for a boycott of the conference when the state government that is hosting is not complicit in this heinous crime unless there is evidence to the contrary.
“It is like asking for conferences billed for Owerri to be canceled because of the killings of two army personnel (husband and wife) by unknown gunmen or asking that we cancel conferences in Abuja because of some of the killings that have taken place there recently.
“Is there any sound logic to such rash requests? Let us be patient and await statement from the appropriate authority sirs. Please take it easy gentlemen, I plead.”
But Adegboruwa fired back: “Learned Counsel and Comrade, your points could have been made without the insults sir. You were unduly emotional in this, perhaps because you’re directly involved.
“It is within our right as lawyers to make any call sir, and we don’t, by whatever means, deserve the kind of language you have employed here, to crucify your colleagues.
“I find this totally unacceptable sir. As a leader of the Bar, you’re to represent our interests, sir. The NBA exists for the promotion and protection of human rights, the most basic of which is the right to life, which has been brutally violated in this case. I honestly don’t think you should have made this statement sir.”
The altercations opened a floodgate of reactions from lawyers on social media.
Former National Human Rights Commission Chairman, Prof Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, in a long reply, condemned Ubani’s position.
He said: “I am gratified that the Chairman of SPIDEL, my brother, Monday Ubani, MoU, has responded to this horrific incident in Sokoto. Sadly, much of the contents of his statement is beside the point at best. Other parts are gratuitously insulting.
“It seems clear his statement is more focused on saving a conference, which can take place anywhere, or on NBA politics, which is unending rather than on valorising human life and responsible government.
“The issues here are clear and his statement fails to reckon with any of them at all. That is why I consider it necessary to respond.”
The don cancelled his participation in the conference, adding, “I will, in addition, actively campaign against the meeting”.
Malam Yusuf Shehu Usman from Lafia, Nasarawa State opined that the killing of Deborah was wrong and unlawful.
“Under the Islamic Shari’ah System the power to punish blasphemy rests in the court and not in the barbaric opinion of a crowd, no matter how pious they may be.
The Sokoto Issue cannot be supported under any law or reason. It’s murder pure and simple, and it must be prosecuted according to the our criminal laws.”