After more than eight years in court over the use of hijab cases, the Abuja Supreme Court has approved the usage of hijab by Muslim females in Lagos government-owned schools. The supreme court ruled that the ban on the usage of the hijab infringed on the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, the dignity of human persons, and freedom from discrimination for the Muslim students, written in the Nigerian 1999 constitution.
The court has additionally rejected the appeal by the government of Lagos State to uphold the previous judgment of the Court of Appeal that had ruled on the hijab ban. The names of the Justices on the panel are Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Justice John Inyang Okoro, Justice Uwani Aji, and Justice Mohammed Garba, Justice Tijjani Abubakar, and Justice Emmanuel Agim.
The court case began in 2013 when two schoolgirls aged 12 years at the time took the Lagos State Government to court after the wearing of hijab to school was banned in primary and secondary public schools in the state. The Lagos state government had given its reason for the ban at the time saying, that the use of hijab was not a recommended school attire for school children. But the little girls had announced that the ban was a violation of their rights to freedom of thoughts, religion, and education as stated in the Nigerian Constitution.
