The Supreme Court of Nigeria has ruled that Muslim Female Students in Lagos state can wear Hijab to school without harassment or discrimination.
The Court in a judgement written by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, and read by Justice Tijani Abubakar, dismissed the appeal filed by Lagos State against an earlier 2016 judgement of the Court of Appeal, on the grounds that the Lagos State Government appeal was without merit.
In a split decision of five to two, a seven-member panel of Justices, affirmed the July 21, 2016 judgement of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which set aside an earlier judgement of October 17, 2014 made by Justice Grace Onyeabo, of the High Court of Lagos State, upholding hijab restrictions.
A Lagos high court had in October 2014, ruled disallowing the use of hijabs in schools but the judgement was upturned by an appeal court in July 2016, on the grounds that it will be discriminatory to restrict the use of hijab for the muslim female students.
The state government took the case to the supreme court, and subsequently banned the use of hijab in August 2018.
However, Supreme Court judgement has now overruled the State Government on its restriction of the use of head covering (hijab) by female Muslim students in its public schools.
GLOBETELLY 