By Leshi Adebayo
There was wild jubilation at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, on Friday, after a 7-man panel delivered a ruling which upholds the use of hijab in Lagos State-owned schools.
The Lagos State Government had appealed the judgement of the Court of Appeal which held that the ban on Hijab was discriminatory against female Muslim students in the state.
The apex court, however, dismissed the appeal and upheld the judgement, insisting that the Lagos State Government violated the fundamental human rights of the affected students.
The ruling favoured the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit.
It would be recalled that the Lagos State Government had banned use of hijab by female students in its schools.
According to Premium Times, on May 27, 2013, Muslims students filed a suit seeking redress and urged the court to declare the ban as a violation of their rights to freedom of thought, religion and education.
On October 17, 2014, an Ikeja High Court dismissed the case against Lagos State Government saying the ban did not, in any way, discriminate against Muslims students and as such did not violate did not violate “the Sections 38 and 42 of the 1999 Constitution as claimed by the plaintiffs.”
Dissatisfied with the court’s ruling, the plaintiffs appealed and on July 21, 2016, a 5-man special appellate court planel ruled out the October 17, 2014 verdict and held that the ban on the use of Hijab, by the Lagos State Government “in public primary and secondary schools was discriminatory against Muslim pupils in the state”.
The Lagos State Government sought for redress before the Supreme Court in February 2017, but the attempt failed.
