Can dressing up in hijab by a Muslim woman constitute a threat to civic security, order, morality or peoples’ health? It is distinctly not! Does it breach the rights and freedom of other individuals? It suffices not! Kwara State citizens should stay away from religious crisis in some form by reason of the fact that it will jeopardize progression in the state.
The hijab is so much more than a piece of cloth. For Muslim women, the head covering is a quintessential mark of their identity. Women in hijab have repeatedly asserted with bigotry, persecution and abuse from some fanatic individuals who palpate endangered by the religious attire. The bias is well pronounced in schools and of course place of work and has remained mostly unmentioned.
Forty Six years ago, during the military era of the late David Bamigboye, as the Governor of Kwara State, some schools built by prominent personalities, Islamic missionaries and Christian denominations had undergone grant aiding by the state government.
Some of the affected schools which are located in Ilorin, are C&S College, Sabo Oke; St Anthony College, Offa Road; ECWA School, Oja Iya; Surulere Baptist School, Bishop Smith Secondary School, Agba Dam; St Barnabas Secondary School, Sabo Oke; St John School, Maraba; St Williams Secondary School, Taiwo Isale and James Secondary School, Maraba.
In Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, the use of the hijab by Muslim school girls have become a fling for the oppression and discrimination by some die hard religious fanatics. Recently, there is a controversy over whether or not Muslims students can wear hijab, in grant-aided secondary schools stated above.
The Christian missions in Kwara State had twice contested the government’s possession of the schools in court, but lost the case at the high and appellate courts. The Ilorin High Court ruled in May 2016 that all the schools taken over belonged to the Kwara State Government. The Court of Appeal, headed by a Christian in its judgment delivered in September 2019 respected the judgment of the lower court.
The judgments of the two courts give right to students in these schools to exercise their faith without any interference whatsoever, in particular freedom for female Muslim students to dress in line with their religious beliefs.
Considering the fact that the state government had taken over such schools, the old missionary possessors do no longer have control over the schools. In February, the Kwara State government ordered the short-term shutdown of 10 grant-aided secondary schools in Ilorin, pending the resolution of the hijab argument.
Moreover, in early March, the Kwara State Government ordered the prompt closedown of the 10 concerned secondary schools in Ilorin for safety reasons. The authority, however, had set up distinct committees, the latest being the one headed by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Kayode Alabi, to settle the plight. This gave rise to a meeting between the government and the leadership of both Christians and Muslims.
On Tuesday, 16th March, 2021, the Kwara State government directed the 10 affected schools in the hijab controversy to reopen on Wednesday for academic activities after they were shut to prevent the breakdown of law and order. The schools were reopened to allow learners to gear up for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
A statement issued by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs Mary Kemi Adeosun, in Ilorin, noted that government is convinced that its policy to allow willing Muslim schoolgirls to wear their hijab in public schools will lead to sustainable peace and communal harmony anchored on mutual respect and understanding.
This path to mutual respect, understanding, and peace with regards to hijab had long been adopted in all of the northern Nigeria and many states in the Southwest such as Lagos, Osun, Ekiti, and Oyo States, the statement added.
The church leaders and their Boards of Trustees jilted the order saying that, they would not permit the use of hijab in their schools in the state. Although, it is believed that the matter over hijab had reached the Supreme Court.
Mission owners in the state like the Cherubim and Seraphim, ECWA, Baptist, and their parent body, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) were said to be praying the court for a return of these schools to their owners. Adding that, the order of the state government to allow the use of hijab in the affected schools devoid proper deliberations and they would oppose the move in the state.
Students of the affected schools flock out to comply with the state government to recommence normal classes were turned back at their different schools at about 7.30a.m.Even so, the students who were eager to resume could not gain entrance as Christian leaders and their members were already at the main gates of the affected schools and approached the students to go back to their different houses.
Several accounts reported that, the reopening of 10 schools on Wednesday was marred by violence at Baptist Secondary School, Surulere and ECWA School, Oja Iya both in the city of Ilorin as law enforcement officers were quickly drafted to the places to return normalcy. The law enforcement officers had to fire tear gas canisters to dismiss the chattering crowd from the location.
The Holy Quran instructs both Muslim men and women to dress in a modest way. The clearest verse on the requirement of modest dress is Surah 24:31, telling women to guard their private parts and draw their khimār over their bosoms.
Without doubt, hijab is part and parcel of Islam. Its usage is a Quranic injunction and stopping a Muslim female student from wearing it contravenes her right to freedom of Thought, Conscience and religion entrenched in section 38 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
The legal case law is replete and undivided on it. Study the subsequent litigations: (1) The Unreported case of THE PROVOST, KWARA STATE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ILORIN & 2 ORS VS BASHIRAT SALIU & 2 ORS Appeal No CA/IL/49/2006, delivered on the 18th day of June, 2009, (2) Sheikh Oyinwola & Ors V The Governor of Osun state & Ors SUIT NO. HOS/M.17/2013 delivered at the Osun State High Court on the 3rd of June, 2016 and (3) Abdulkareem v. LASG (2016) 15 NWLR (Pt 1535) 177.
Permitting Muslim female students to wear hijab will be in compliance with the ruling of the Kwara state High Court of 2016 and that of the Court of Appeal of 2019. All parties in the exigency should sue for peace, adopt tolerance and nonviolent communal life in the state.
The state need to be more concerned with peace by guarantee the rights of Muslim students is not denied as embedded in the constitution. Government at all levels need to legislate laws to sanction individuals discriminating against women wearing hijab and warrant that those denying Muslim women their rights are punished.
