Protest in Lagos as court adjourns judgment on hijab ban An Ikeja High Court in Lagos State, on Friday, adjourned judgment on a suit challenging the ban on hijab in public primary and secondary schools in Lagos State till October 17. The adjournment, it was gathered, was necessitated by the ongoing activities marking the 2014/2015 legal year by the state judiciary. It was further gathered that the Registrar of Justice, Grace Onyeabo, had sent notices of the adjournment to parties in the suit. However, the plaintiffs, Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, Lagos State chapter, who was unaware of the adjournment, gathered at the premises of the court as early as 8.00 a.m. for the judgment. Following the notification that the judgment had been postponed, the students staged a peaceful protest outside the court to express their disapproval over the ban. The protesters, who carried placards with various inscriptions, urged the state government to rescind its decision on the ban. The government had banned the use of hijab on the ground that it was not part of the approved school uniform. Following the ban, the students filed a suit against the government on May 27, 2013, asking the court to declare the ban as unconstitutional. At the last proceeding, their counsel, Mr Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, had in a 24-paragraph affidavit, urged the court to lift the ban. Adetola-Kazeem argued that the wearing of headscarf was a fundamental right as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution. “We are not demanding full hijab, we have exhibited a photograph of a sample of hijab which still represents their school identity. “The colour of the hijab can conform to the school uniform. All we want is for the students to be allowed to use hijab. If beret and caps are allowed for female students, hijab shouldn’t be an exemption,” he said.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 01:27:47 +0000
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