Female Muslim students in Lagos have
urged the Court of Appeal to reverse the decision of a Lagos State High
Court, which banned the use of hijab (head to shoulder veil used by
Muslim women) in public primary and secondary schools in Lagos State.
Justice G.M. Onyeabo had on October 17,
2014, dismissed a suit filed by two female Muslim students of Atunrashe
Junior High School, Surelere, Asiyat Abdulkareem and Maryam Oyeniyi, who
challenged the ban on hijab.
The students had sued for themselves and
on behalf of others under the umbrella of the Registered Trustees of
Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria.
The applicants had headed for the court
in protest against the decision of the Vice Principal of their school,
who sometime in January 2012, directed all students and teachers wearing
hijabs to remove them.
They
had urged the court to declare that the ban on hijab violated their
rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, dignity of human
persons and freedom from discrimination guaranteed by the Nigerian
constitution.
But Onyeabo dismissed the suit, holding
that the ban was neither discriminatory nor a breach of sections 38 and
42 of the 1999 Constitution as argued by Chief Gani Adetola-Kazeem, who
represented the students.
The judge held that allowing the use of
hijab in public schools, as prayed by the students, would jeopardise
Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution, which makes Nigeria a secular
state.
“The values of plurality and the respect
for the rights of others who have subscribed to a non-faith based
educational system cannot be breached,” the judge had said.
She added that since public schools were
funded by the state, the responsiblity to issue dress code for the
students also lied with the government.
But displeased, the students, through
their legal team comprising five Senior Advocates of Nigeria and other
lawyers, have urged the Court of Appeal to overrule the decision of the
lower court.
They urged the appellate court to
determine whether the trial judge acted within the law, when she held
that Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution makes Nigeria a secular state,
when the defendants did not canvass such an argument.
They also want the appellate court to
decide whether the trial judge was right in pronouncing that the use of
hijab would cause disunity, distraction and discrimination against
students of other faiths.
They want the Appeal Court to determine
whether it was right for the trial judge to believe that there was a
state policy banning the use of hijab in Lagos public schools by relying
only on oral evidence without any documentary or statutory instrument.
They urged the appellate court to hold
that the respondents breached their constitutionally guaranteed rights
under sections 38 and 42 of the 1999 Constitution, when they suddenly
stopped them from wearing hijab in compliance with the tenets of their
religion.
The respondents in the appeal are the
Lagos State Government, its Attorney General and Commissioner for
Justice, the state Commissioner for Education and the state Commissioner
for Home Affairs and Culture.
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