Hijab war rages as Lagos waits on Supreme Court

An old wound likely to last humanity. Even the cosmopolitan Lagos is feeling the hijab controversy. TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE brings all perspectives to the gathering storm.

LAGOS is reputed to be the land of fun which earned it the Eko for Show sobriquet. But there is a lingering issue which the state and its inhabitants are not finding funny. It is whether the use of hijab in Lagos public schools should be allowed.

Although an old issue which first reared its head during the administration of former Governor Babatunde Fashola, agitation for hijb recently resumed in the polity and in what appeared like a pre-arranged happening, a couple of states in the South West also witnessed a return of the issue in their public schools. An example is International School, Ibadan, owned by University of Ibadan which has remained shut over this hijab issue.

The debate in Lagos is pulling in different directions but beyond the jaw-jaw, there has also been a semblance of war-war in a way that has been affecting some Muslim students who are torn between obeying their parents who are for wearing of hijab and school authorities who aren’t ready to accommodate such dresses.

Barred students

One example of the war-war situations is the case of the principal of a senior secondary school in Isolo who was reported to have barred five Muslim female students who put on hijab from entering the school premises except they pulled off their covering. It is no more news that the said principal has since been deployed somewhere else, to resolve the matter.

The case of a girls’ school in Ojo, and that of a high school in Ifako-Ijaiye, where teachers similarly asked their female students who put on long-size hijab to pull it off, have also become a part of the hijab story.

The recent purported statement credited to one O. A. Olukoya, the director of school administration and signed on behalf of his principal, the Tutor General\Permanent Secretary of the state’s Education District V1, directing the school heads and principals of primary and secondary schools in the district to henceforth, allow their female students who practise Islam and want to wear hijab in class to so do, is no longer news. It is the dust which the action has raised and the resultant confusion that are yet to settle.

A highly placed government source spoke to Saturday Tribune on the issue: “Why should it be that the purported letter was issued from the same education district where the problem that caused stakeholders meeting on the use of hijab emanated from. There must be more to it.”

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Investigations also revealed that the said information was not for public consumption based on the sensitivity of the issue, while it was also discovered that the information did not represent the true position of government on the controversy, more so that the matter is still pending before the Supreme Court.

The pendency of the matter at the apex court is reportedly responsible for the loud silence from government at this point with no competent officials ready to make even a seemingly harmless comment at the moment.

Cappa clausa as hijab precursor?

Hijab, in modern Arabic world, according to Wikipedia, is described as a veil worn by some (and not all) Muslim women in the presence of any male outside of their immediate family, usually to cover head and chest as in conformity to Islamic standards of modesty.

But according to the purported circular issued on it in Lagos, students who want to put on hijab could do so but must not only conform to the colour of the school uniforms but must also be short and smart.

However, opinions of stakeholders on this remain divergent as they have been all along.  While some believe that as far as the issue concerns public schools, hijab should not be part of school uniform regulations since students hold different religious beliefs and that those who want to wear hijab at all costs should instead go to Muslim schools where such is freely practised.

They further argue that creating opportunity for certain students to wear hijab in class in such an environment would rubbish the idea of students wearing uniforms, which ProCon.org, an education-related online platform, traced back to 1222 when students in a particular school in England were required to wear a robe-like outfit called a ‘cappa clausa.’

Their belief is that the use of hijab as part of school uniforms in a “multi-religions” schools will create what they call unnecessary identity for certain people. They believe that school uniform should not only serve as a group emblem but also to suppress individuality.

No consensus yet

A jurist and scholar, Professor Akin Oyebode, said although he stood to be corrected, he knew that hijab was cultural and not about religion. However, he pointed out that the rule in Islam is that women should be modest in their dressing.

“And I am not against being modest either as a Muslim or Christian or any other person. But you can still appear modest without putting on hijab just like those who do not wear it.

“I have been in Egypt, which is a Muslim county and at the University of Cairo to be specific since 2002 as a facilitator and I have had Palestinians, Yemenis and all that as classmates before; they didn’t carry religion to the extreme.

“Though there were students who put on hijab there, there were also other Muslim female students who didn’t wear it but instead put on even jeans trousers. So, how can we now be more Catholic than the Pope?” he queried.

“The point I am making is that, here, we overdo things. How would somebody say it is hijab or death? It shouldn’t get to that level,” Prof. Oyebode said.

Even at that, he said hijab or no hijab, the idea of school uniform which implies uniformity in dressing should not be eroded in anyway.

On what the law actually says as regards the issue, he said the issue was critical, quoting Section 10 of Nigerian 1999 Constitution as reference.

According to him, without prejudice to the religious sensitivity of people, the Supreme Court would not want to violate the rights of ordinary Nigerians that don’t want hijab and it would also want to reflect the sentiment of believers in hijab and therefore, factoring in both sides.

Similarly, General Overseer of Strong Tower Church of Holy Ghost, Reverend Yisa Kuti, said, wearing of hijab in schools shouldn’t have degenerated to the level it was today in the state.

According to him, it would be fair to all religious groups to adhere to the dictates of government as regards the mode of dressing for students in public schools.

“What should be our collective concern is the quality of knowledge our children are given and under what conditions. The type of teachers we have. Are they enough and competent or not? Are there good tools to work with or not? Are there textbooks? Are there enough chairs and lockers in their classrooms and even what kind of classrooms they have and all that.  These are the things that should be the priority and not hijab or any other type of uniform.”

That is also the view of the Secretary General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos State, Chief Everest Ozonweke, who is a custodian of tradition.

While acknowledging the fact that Lagos State is more advanced and tolerant in religious affairs than all other states in the country, he said there was nothing wrong with female Muslim students putting on hijab in class in as much as Christians are free to also dress in their Christian attires. “I don’t think the state government will oppose that if Christians choose to,” he stressed.

Nevertheless, just like Rev. Kuti, Chief Ozonweke is equally of the opinion that attention should be on how to rebuild the nation and the economy as well as getting things working again.

“So, let us be more focused on how we are going to bring desired change every Nigerian is yearning for. We have so many problems confronting us as a country, including insecurity, unemployment, starvation and hunger that have reached alarming level.

“You send your children to school so that they can be better citizens; so that they can be up-to-date about the discoveries in science and technology, or arts; so that they can be educated and know the realities of life. But what we have today is that our children go to school and return the same.

“So, how well our children are faring in school as regards learning and character and mentorship should be our concern and not whether they are putting on hijab or not,” he said.

But an Islamic rights crusader, Professor Ishaq Akintola, insists that the use of hijab is an inalienable right of Muslim women and must extend to schools.

“And that is why we the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, still stand firmly on our already-known position which is that government should allow Muslim female students to continue wearing hijab in schools, public or private.

“So, our position is no retreat, no surrender,” he told Saturday Tribune in a conversation.

He accused the state government and the current administration in particular, of recklessness in decision making.

“It is like the administration came with the mindset to suppress Muslims and this is just unfortunate because if America can begin to allow female Muslim officers in the US Army to wear hijab and Britain to allow Muslim policewomen to use hijab, I wonder what the transfer of aggression is all about here in Nigeria. What is in hijab that some people don’t just want to see it on people around them?

“So, we have not and would never shift our ground on the use of hijab in Lagos public schools,” he maintained, quoting Chapter 24, verse 30-31 to support his claim.

Private schools’ immunity

Interestingly, the use of hijab in private schools has not been so contentious, if any at all, in the state and the reason is simple, according to watchers of the development.

One of these is the high number of private schools in the state as there is hardly a street in a city like Lagos without a private school, quality or not.

“Because of that, people have choices. This is unlike public schools that people have to trek miles from homes before getting to school,” said one of the watchers.

Schools operating under the aegis of the National Association of Private School Proprietors (NAPPS) are in this category. The association has more than 65 per cent as members among all private school owners in the country with Alhaji Wasiu Adunmadehin as the current state chairman, while having as the immediate predecessor, Alhaji Kamaldeen Akande.

Both of them told Saturday Tribune in separate interviews that they truly accommodate all manner of students from different religious backgrounds and allow them to practise their religions.

“So, we allow Muslim female students who choose to put on hijab to do so and this does not in any way affect those from other faiths,” Adunmadehin pointed out, adding that “after all, that shouldn’t affect studies which is the primary reason for students coming to school.”

That is why Kamaldeen, on his part, expressed worry about the development in the public schools, arguing that instead, stakeholders should show more concern about how to produce quality and competitive students.

For the Muslim schools, the practice poses no problem at all. Even in some of them like those under the League of Muslim School Proprietors (LEAMSP), it is a must for female students to put on hijab as virtually all of them are Muslims.

The chairman of the Lagos chapter of the group, Mr Fatai Raheem, told Saturday Tribune that the government did not interfere in any way in the type of uniform their students should put on.

“Government only regulates our other activities, especially curriculum, academic calendar and all that, and also monitors our operations. But for hijab, our students put on the long (and not the short type) that will cover the head and other sensitive parts of the body but only that it must agree with the colour of the school uniforms.

“The belief is that Muslim women must not expose the sensitive parts of their bodies in the public and that is why you see them all over the place and not only in schools putting on hijab,” he noted.

Raheem said it was necessary that as students are being imparted with knowledge and skills, they must also be brought up in a godly way so as to become complete graduates tomorrow.

Stranger than fiction

Then how surprising is it that some Christian female students also put on hijab in Lagos schools? How and for what purpose? you might want to ask.

“I know of three female Christian students, two of them in my class, Ronke and Mary, who also put on hijab but only when they are in school and when they plait their hair or trying to grow their natural hair long. You know the policy in Lagos public schools is that female students are not allowed to plait their hair in desirable style but do a low-cut like that of men.

“That was not the situation before. It was when it became rampant that students turned their classrooms to ‘saloon’ by plaiting their hair during school hours that government banned it and asked all female students to be doing low-cut like their male counterparts,” a female Muslim student of Ojokoro Grammar School, who pleaded for anonymity, said.

She said she had two types of hijab. Though both are white, one is plain white and short while the other has gold-plated design on the hedge.

“The first one is the acceptable one but I never like putting any of them on and that means I have a choice as regards which one to put on and at what time. The only time I put on hijab is when I am going for prayer either in school or at home. We do go to prayer hall just like every other Muslim student in both government and private schools by 2.00 p.m. every school day to pray and it is a must for female worshippers to cover their heads at that period and honestly, I don’t know the spiritual connotation of the practice,” she noted.

That is not all. The young lady also doesn’t like to put on jihab, especially in class and when it is sunny because of heat.

“Putting on hijab when the weather is hot is something else as far I am concerned. It gives me heat and because of that, I would be sweating and very uncomfortable and my parents know this. So, why do I need to put on what will affect my health? I don’t like deceit,” the schoolgirl maintained.

No academic value?

Ironically, there has not been any correlation established between students using hijab and their academic performance, especially in Nigeria, where religion has become a strong dividing line among citizens.

“Yes, nobody has ever carried out research on whether students who put on hijab perform better academically in class than their mates who don’t and vice versa. Until we do research in that regard, we will continue to make case out of trivialities,” a senior lecturer at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Professor Patrick Edewor, told Saturday Tribune.

According to him, what should be the major concern of individuals, especially parents, as well as groups and government, is how to produce a total student for global market in order to make Nigeria a safer and better place for all to live and not about whether somebody is allowed to put on hijab or not in class.

“For me, it is high time that every Nigerian played their own part in a meaningful way to make the country a force in the comity of nations and not to continue arguing over what cannot bring food to the table,” the don, who is a professor of sociology, said.

That is also the position of a Muslim cleric and Chief Imam of Ogba Central Mosque, Ikeja, Alhaji Meta Salau. He told Saturday Tribune via telephone that hijab for female Muslims, young or old, either putting it on in or outside the school, or any other place, is for modesty.

“It is part of women’s dressing for female Muslims to cover their heads, chest and arms, especially when in public. All is to ensure they are not looking tempting to opposite sex who are not their husbands and nothing more,” the cleric said.

On the part of parents, the National Parents-Teachers Association of Nigeria (NPTAN’s) position on the use of hijab or any other religious group dressing mode is that of government policy as regulator of the industry.

The second Deputy National President of NPTAN, Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, who is based in Lagos, told Saturday Tribune that as long as government accommodated hijab in schools with specifications, so be it for NPTAN.

“And if tomorrow it says otherwise, we will also take it like that,” he pointed out. This scenario, according to him, is applicable if it involves a private school like the case of International School, Ibadan.

“So, what I am saying is that NPTAN will accept a set standard by the regulators of the industry.  That is why if any student wants to attend a particular school and finds out that the school mode of dressing is not in conformity with either her faith or any other reason, such a student should seek admission elsewhere.

“Another way is for students in such a situation to appeal to the school authorities and if agreed, fine and if not, he or she should accept it like that. But if the authorities say no, it is not ideal for parents to force their children on schools.

“But once the use of hijab has become a state policy, there is nothing any principal or teacher can do whether they like students to put hijab on or not. And I want to believe that the education ministry will pass a circular as regards this position soonest,” Chief Ogunbanjo said.

When contacted, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr Kehinde Bamgbetan, said he had no comment on the issue.

Waiting on Supreme Court

The legal battle between the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) and the state government has gone on for more than five years. Initially when it was heard at the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, Justice Modupe Onyeabo ruled on October 17, 2014 against the use of hijab in public primary and secondary schools in the state.

This decision was challenged by the MSSN before the Court of Appeal with a five-man panel constituted to handle the case. In the end, the panel, presided by Justice A. B. Gumel, on July 21, 2016, overruled the earlier judgment and declared the ban a rights infringement and discriminatory against Muslim students in the state.

The panel also held that wearing of hijab was an Islamic injunction and an act of worship required of Muslims and therefore should stay.

Dissatisfied with the development and following its failure to secure a stay of execution, the state government approached the Supreme Court which is expected to serve as the final arbiter.

With the pendency of the appeal at the apex court, all stakeholders are waiting with bated breath to see where the pendulum will swing.