The hijab saga at 2017 call to Bar: An eyewitness account

All my life I have never experienced the kind of hatred and disgust towards a fellow human being as what I saw on 12th December, 2017. I arrived the ICC for the call on time, followed the queue and entered the hall. When the Body Of Benchers filed in, we all stood up as a […]

All my life I have never experienced the kind of hatred and disgust towards a fellow human being as what I saw on 12th December, 2017. I arrived the ICC for the call on time, followed the queue and entered the hall.

When the Body Of Benchers filed in, we all stood up as a sign of respect and followed the instructions as expected of aspirants to the Bar. Everything was going smoothly until the time a lady approached the podium to receive hand shake and collect her certificates. As she moved down the podium and made to return to her seat, I noticed Mrs. Mevayen Jemialu, a lecturer at the Nigerian Law School, Abuja campus, walking at a very fast pace towards this lady.

Upon reaching the lady, she asked her to remove the hijab and throw it on the floor. Then she stepped on it and kicked it several times while uttering very humiliating words on the lady. As if that was not enough, she asked a guard to stand by the hijab and ensure that the lady doesn’t pick it up. A few minutes later, Mrs. Jemialu, accompanied by her junior colleague, Mrs. Jennifer Ikwuanusi came to seize her certificate. My seat was close to the scene so I could see with my eyes.

I felt a deep pain in my heart as a fellow human. I couldn’t agree within me that the way the lady was treated was right. I respected Mrs. Jemialu so much, but from that very moment the respect I had for her disappeared. Her action was a strong indication of unwarranted bias against people of other faiths. 

In a saner society, people like Mrs. Jemialu should by now be on suspension. But this is Nigeria where anything goes.

After the programme, the hijab lady went to ask for her certificate. This time, she had lost the courage to put on the hijab the second time. But something more amazing happened . Mrs. Emetejife Onoriode, attempted to search the lady. Only God knows her mission. She and her colleagues present at the front side of the podium were accusing the lady of a premeditated action. It took the intervention of Mr. Samuel Osamolu to let sleeping dogs lie. At this point I came to the conclusion that we Nigerian Christians are actually biased against the Muslims.

I left the hall to inquire about the lady. It was then I found out we finished together from the same Abuja Law School campus and that she graduated from University of Ilorin. I was not surprised to hear, the next day, that another female aspirant was denied her right to be called to the Nigerian Bar just because of wearing a  hijab.”

After reading these two accounts above, no one is left in doubt that the charge of islamophobia against Nigerian Law School authorities is very genuine. Why should Aisha Zubair be subjected to such ill-treatment just because she sought to observe an obligatory part of her religion which additionally does not violate any Nigerian Law or our constitution? 

Now that the torturers gave been named, I am urging the relevant authorities to fish them out and punish them accordingly. These two women must not go scot-free after the mental and psychological torment they inflected on Aisha. This column demands justice for Barrister Aisha Zubair for the public humiliation she was subjected to, by these inhuman lecturers.

I am glad that the case of Firdausi Amasa Abdussalam has been taken up by the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, the House of Representatives, NBA President AB Mahmoud, MURIC, FOMWAN and almost all the other organisations I appealed to last week. 

I am particularly glad that the House of Reps acted this fast, at the behest of my brother Abubakar Danburam-Nuhu (whom I’ve known all my life as Alhaji Garba, named so because he had been to Makkah as a baby). 

We expect nothing less of our elected representatives, but the will to stand by us and make laws that reflect our wishes. At this point I will repeat the call I made here last week, that the hijab should be made lawful in every Nigerian school and institution, since our constitution guarantees our right to it.

Again, If our colonial masters have accepted the hijab as an integral part of a Muslim woman’s life, we here should accept it and stop being more Catholic than the Pope. The first step is to ensure justice for Aisha Zubair and Firdausi Abdussalam.