Now, justice for Aisha Zubair

Those of us who stood by Firdausi Amasa Abdussalam, after her travails at the Nigerian Law School last week, were subjected to all kinds of criticism on social media for daring to take the stand we took.  There were a lot of praises too from those fair-minded enough to see that we were championing a […]

Those of us who stood by Firdausi Amasa Abdussalam, after her travails at the Nigerian Law School last week, were subjected to all kinds of criticism on social media for daring to take the stand we took. 

There were a lot of praises too from those fair-minded enough to see that we were championing a just cause. But the common refrain among our critics, was that we chose to stand by a belligerent young lady, who had no respect for the numerous elders who appealed to her to remove her head cover – the hijab.

As luck would have it, Firdausi was not the only one who drew the ire of the anti-hijab authorities of that institution this month. Another young lawyer, who was called to the bar a day earlier, had tried to comply with the demand of the lecturers against the dictates of her conscience, but still paid dearly for the step she took. 

This young lady, Aisha Zubair by name had sent a post in which she narrated her ordeal, at the Law School graduation ceremony held on December 12th 2017. 

In her own words, “My name is Aisha Zubair. I was called to the Nigerian Bar on the 12th day of December, 2017 in the morning. Myself and some other sisters were on the queue together to enter the hall. But at the entrance, a law school lecturer demanded for our hijab. She asked that we remove both the hijab and the cap and give them to her. She demanded the same of those wearing only the cap too. We begged to go and remove it properly in the toilet and she obliged. We were allowed to enter only when we had removed everything from our heads. When I went to my seat, I donned the hijab back on but I was approached about twice to remove the hijab, as other sisters were approached too. When the programme started, I put it back on, tucked it into the collarrete and placed the wig on it.  When it was my turn to be called to the stage, I approached the stage with the hijab on, took a bow like everyone else but did not shake the hands of the Bencher there. I was given my certificate like everyone else and I proceeded to my seat.

“When I got to my seat, a law school lecturer was waiting there and she started shouting at me and hurling insults at me for daring to wear the hijab in the hall saying I wanted to disgrace them.

“She demanded I remove the hijab and throw it on the floor which I did, then she started to rub the hijab on the floor, then she kicked it around several times before asking a guard to guard the hijab and not allow me retrieve it. 

Then she came back with another lecturer to seize the certificate I had just collected, saying it was order from above for doing what I did.  I begged but they didn’t listen.  After the ceremony, I went to them and after so much pleas I was given back the certificate with a stern warning.” 

And this is Aisha’s own version of events. A witness to everything she narrated above, though a non-Muslim, was nevertheless appalled by what he saw that he posted the following: