The Hijab Controversy In Osun

By Wale Sokunbi

Osun State is once again in the vortex of a storm over a ruling by a state High Court which granted students in the state the right to wear the Muslim female covering, the hijab, to school as part of their fundamental human rights. Since that controversial ruling by Justice Jide Falola on June 3, Nigerians have been inundated with pictures of students of other faiths, especially Christians, going to school in religious vestments such as cassocks, choir robes and the like.

The implication of this ugly situation is not lost on Nigerians. It is a recipe for anarchy, as students of all faiths may decide to start coming to school in their different religious apparels, and it would not be out of place to see student adherents of our traditional religions coming to school with their red and white apparels, divination beads, palm fronds and calabashes filled with kolanuts, red oil and other items that they could insist their faiths mandate them to take to their places of instruction. On a lighter note, our courts would, indeed, be hard pressed trying to determine the veracity of such claims, which would be a monumental waste of their precious time.

On a more serious note, it is unfortunate that the matter of school uniform has become a big distraction in the state. It is worrisome that at a time when all attention should be focused on the problems bedeviling the nation’s education sector, especially the sorry state of public schools and the declining performance of students in public examinations such as the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), some Nigerians appear more worried about the scarf, hijab or beret that students in government schools are wearing to school.

Although the use of accessories associated with a particular religion could amount to a subtle promotion or propagation of that particular religion in the public school system, and the state judiciary should not be seen to be promoting the use of the paraphernalia of any religion in schools, the leaders of other faiths in Osun State need a more measured response to Justice Falola’s controversial “hijab judgement.”

Unveiling The Hijab

By Ray Ekpu  

Hijab, the veil that Moslem women wear which covers the head and the chest, is being gradually unveiled in Osun State with an immense potential for katakata. Here are the facts: Recently the Osun State Moslem community filed a case against the state government urging it to allow Moslem female students to use the hijab in public schools. Justice Jide Falola of the Osun State High Court on June 3 this year gave a verdict that Moslem female students should be allowed to wear hijab in all public schools in the state because it is their fundamental human right. The Moslems gave the verdict a storm of applause.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the state says it will do two things: appeal against the judgment and mobilise Christian students to turn up in schools in their full religious regalia which will include choir robes and full white garment ensemble, the trademarks of some of the feuding mainstream and Pentecostal churches.

The State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, who has been in the trenches with his workers over nonpayment of their salaries, is now in the eye of a different tornado. The state government fully aware that the state may explode in a rage of religious combat is now fretting like a fuzzy storm. The truth is that even though the governor is a Moslem the state is almost evenly divided in population between moslems and Christians and the invocation of the hijab as the ultimate expression of fundamental human rights for female moslem students has convulsed the state because the Christians suspect rightly or wrongly that this may be a first step towards the Islamisation of schools in the state.

 The security agencies have invited the Moslem and Christian leaders for a meeting to avoid a breakdown of law and order. The twist in the tale is that, truly speaking, these public schools are not public schools. They are schools that were founded and funded by Christian missionaries which were forcibly taken over by military governments when they ruled the roost. In some states, these schools have been handed over back to their original owners but that is not the case in Osun State. That is perhaps the meat of the matter.

The hijab is gradually becoming a major subject of public discourse in Nigeria. It is perhaps time to fully address or undress it. In December last year, a group of Moslem youths under the aegis of Moslem Youths in Da’wab wanted the hijab introduced into the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme. They went to the headquarters of the NYSC to protest against the ban of the use of the hijab for female Moslem corps members during the orientation period. They said that the rights of the female corps members were being infringed upon if they were not allowed to use the hijab. The then Director General , Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi, told them that he was a respecter of the rights of all corps members but that the ban was for security reasons.

It did not apparently occur to these youths that the NYSC is a national institution that had been in existence since 1973 with its rules, regulations and a nationally identifiable uniform used throughout all the states of the federation. It didn’t also occur to them that since terrorists had made the hijab an instrument for suicide bombing something had to give if people’s lives were to be guaranteed by the NYSC authorities. It did not also dawn on them that in the hierarchy of rights the right to life is the pre-eminent right that stands atop other rights or freedoms. However, the Director General gave them a reason that was difficult to counter. They may not have been satisfied but they have been quiet since then.