JUDGEMENT: Supreme Court On Right Of Muslim Students To Wear Hijab In Lagos Schools

In the appeal case of Lagos State Government v. Asiyat Abdulkareem (through her father) & Ors, before the Supreme Court, heard by a 7 man panel, the Supreme Court has upheld the rights of Students to wear hijab to Public and Secondary schools in Lagos State.

The case was an appeal of the judgement of The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division on 21st July, 2016, where the Lagos state government appealed the decision of the Court of Appeal in holding that the Female Muslim Students had the constitutional right in wearing hijab in Lagos Public and Secondary schools.

After consideration of the evidence before the court and the argument of counsels of both sides, 5 Justices of the Supreme Court upheld the Decision of The Court of Appeal while dismissing the appeal, while 2 Justices gave dissenting opinions. Delivering the leading judgement of the Majority, Hon. Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun JSC, stated that that it was the view of the Apex Court that the wearing of hijab was the Constitutional guaranteed rights of the Female Muslim Students in manifesting their beliefs and religion through practice and observed tenets. Thus, according to the Court, enforcing that the student wear their hijab only in specified period of times defeats the purpose of their belief and amounts to a breach of their fundamental rights as provided in Section 38 of the Constitution.

On the 2nd issue, the Court held that the trial court was wrong in applying an European precedent on the interpretation of fundamental right when it was bound by the case of Provost, Kwara College of Education, Illorin v. Bashirat & Ors. (C.A) where the Court of Appeal decided that non-use of Hijab violated fundamental rights of students. According to the Supreme Court, the European case law was only persuasive and the Court of Appeal binding on the trial Court, and as such it upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal and dismissed the appeal for lack of merit.

DISSENTING OPINIONS

*Dissenting Opinion By Honourable Justice Emmanuel Agim In Landmark Case Allowing Use of Hijab In Schools

In his dissenting opinion, Honourable Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim held that uniform dressing in Public Primary and Secondary Schools is in furtherance of Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution which emphasises the secularity of the Nigerian state and the government’s religious neutrality.

My Lord also cited the Case of Sahin Vs Turkey where same issue was determined by the Constitutional Court of Turkey which upheld the ban of use of Hijab even in Universities. He noted that the decision was reached based on the provision of the Turkish Constitution which is exactly the same with Section 10 of the Nigerian Constitution.

‘Giving Students Freedom To Put On Their Religious Togas Will Cause Chaos In Education System’ – Hon. Justice Inyang Okoro

Also disagreeing with the majority judgement was Honourable Justice Inyang Okoro.

In his dissenting judgement, the Honourable Justice of the Apex Court held that there is no correlation between maintaining standard dress code in schools and complaint of denial of fundamental right.

According to him, having chosen to obtain formal education at the said school, the students are obligated to abide with the rules of the school which is in line with state policy.

He emphasised that bringing religious biases to bear on dress codes in formal settings as the school will not augur well for the educational system.

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