BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds Use Of Hijab In Lagos Schools
The Nigerian Supreme Court has allowed female Muslim pupils in Lagos State Government-run schools to wear hijab.
On Friday in Abuja, the court handed down its decision in the case of Lagos State Govt. and Ors V. Asiyat AbdulKareem, with the case number SC/910/16.
The court denied the Lagos State Government’s appeal and affirmed the Court of Appeal’s earlier decision that the hijab prohibition was discriminatory towards Muslim students in the state.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has declared that Muslim pupils can wear hijab in secondary schools in a split verdict.
In an 80-page lead opinion, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun found that the prohibition on hijab was discriminatory towards Muslim pupils in Lagos State.
Other Justices on the panel were Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, Justice John Inyang Okoro, Justice Uwani Aji, Justice Mohammed Garba, Justice Tijjani Abubakar, and Justice Emmanuel Agim.
Wild jubilation greeted the verdict with the Amir (President) of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit, Miftahudeen Thanni, and other members of the organisation seen shouting “God is great”.
The court upheld that the ban violated the Muslim students’ rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, the dignity of human persons and freedom from discrimination guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution.
