By Lukman Olabiyi

Lagos Division of Court of Appeal yesterday struck out an application by the state government seeking an injunction to suspend use of hijab by Muslim female pupils in public schools.

The three-man panel based their verdict on a pending appeal by the state at the Supreme Court, noting that the court was not the right place to hear the application.

The appeal panel, comprising Justices M. L. Garba (presiding), J. S. Ikyegh and U. Ogakwu, said the apex court was the proper place for the application to be heard.

On July 21, 2016, a special five-man panel of the appellate court upturned the 2014 verdict of the State High Court, which outlawed the wearing of hijab by the pupils.

In a unanimous decision, the special five-man panel presided over by Justice A.S. Gumel held that it would amount to discrimination on religious ground if the pupils were disallowed to wear hijab.

The suit was filed against the state government by two female pupils of Atunrase Junior High School in Surulere, Asiyat Kareem and Mariam Oyeniyi, under the aegis of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN).

The state, on September 16, 2016, filed an application at the Court of Appeal seeking an injunction for a stay of the judgment, pending the determination of an appeal filed at the Supreme Court.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, counsel for the state, Mr. Hameed Oyenuga of the Directorate of Civil Litigation Department, informed the court that the injunction was applied for before the state government, eventually, appealed the judgment at the apex court.

He requested that the application be forwarded to the Supreme Court so that it could be heard alongside the appeal.

“We are asking that the application be forwarded or transmitted to the Supreme Court. We have forwarded our return argument to the Supreme Court, but we are yet to ascertain whether it has been entered,” Oyenuga said.

Counsel for the first, second and third respondents, Mr. H. T. Fajimite did not object.

The court agreed that the Supreme Court should hear the application, but observed that for that to happen, the application had to be withdrawn or struck out at the appellate court

Justice Garuba said: “An appeal has been entered at the Supreme Court, you can’t expect us to transmit it to the Supreme Court. You have to withdraw the application. The application before us has to go. The application is hereby struck out.”