Court adjourns judgment over pupils’ dressing in Lagos schools

A case expected to determine whether or not hijab (muslim head-scarf) should be allowed in Lagos public primary and secondary schools has been adjourned to October 17.

Justice Modupe Onyeabor of the Ikeja High Court, Lagos, had fixed last Friday for the judgment of the case before it was adjourned.

The announcement was made by the Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of Muslim Lawyers, Musodiq Sanni.

“The court is not sitting; hence the case had to be adjourned till October 17, 2014. Please come around on the day of the final ruling,” he said.

On hearing the adjournment, a protest was triggered as hundreds of muslim students were seen displaying placards and singing solidarity songs.

The students, who staged a peaceful protest from the premises of Ikeja High Court to Lagos State University College of Medicine junction, displayed several placards.

Some of the placards read, “No Hijab, no vote; don’t encourage nudity; no law can take our hijab; don’t politicise our right; we are all surrendering; allowing hijab is a symbol of justice; we recognise the law, recognise our hijabs.”

According to the students, postponing the case won’t stop them from agitating for their rights.

One of them, Kaamil Kalejaiye urged the Lagos State Government and the court not to deny freedom of religion as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution and international laws.

Kalejaiye, who is the president of Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit said, “It saddens that female Muslims are flogged for wearing hijab; sacked for dressing modestly and denied National Youth Service Corps for following the dictate of morality, despite the fact that freedom of religion is firmly entrenched in international laws and the constitutions of countries around the world, including Nigeria.”

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