The legal battle over the use of hijab at the International School, University of Ibadan (ISI), has entered a new phase, as the Incorporated Trustees of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) have filed an appeal at the Supreme Court. 

The appeal is challenging the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, which overturned an earlier High Court decision permitting female Muslim students to wear hijab as part of their school uniform.

The appeal, filed after the Court of Appeal's split judgment delivered on Friday seeks to set aside the majority decision of the appellate court and restore the judgment of the Oyo State High Court, which had upheld the students' constitutional rights to freedom of religion.

The dispute began in 2018 when 11 Muslim female students of the International School, University of Ibadan, with the support of MURIC, instituted a fundamental rights enforcement action against the University of Ibadan, the school management and other officials after they were prevented from wearing hijab with their school uniforms.

On May 22, 2024, the Oyo State High Court ruled in favour of the students, holding that the school's restriction violated their constitutional rights to freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the University of Ibadan and the school's management appealed.

In a two-to-one majority judgment, Justices Biobele Georgewill and K.I. Amadi of the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, holding that the International School is a private institution rather than a public school.

The court reasoned that the Supreme Court's earlier decision permitting the use of hijab applied only to public schools and not to private educational institutions.

The majority further held that the students had voluntarily agreed to abide by the school's rules and dress code upon admission and had therefore waived any personal right to insist on wearing hijab within the school.

Justice Fadawu Umar, however, dissented, maintaining that the appeal lacked merit and that the High Court judgment should have been upheld.

According to the Notice of Appeal filed before the Supreme Court, MURIC is asking the apex court to overturn the majority judgment on several grounds.

The appellants contend that the Court of Appeal erred in law by declaring the International School, University of Ibadan, a private school.

The appeal argues that the school is a public institution established within the University of Ibadan and owned, financed and managed by the Federal Government through the university.

The appellants point to the school's prospectus, which shows that principal officers of the University of Ibadan constitute members of the Governing Board and administer the school on behalf of the university.

The appeal also relies on evidence given by the University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor, who admitted that the University of Ibadan owns and funds the International School.

It further argues that full-time staff of the University of Ibadan are public officers and cannot lawfully operate a private school, making the Court of Appeal's conclusion legally unsustainable.

The appellants also contend that the majority judgment conflicts with constitutional provisions governing public institutions and the status of university officials.

MURIC argued that the Court of Appeal wrongly held that the Muslim students waived their right to wear hijab.

According to the appeal, the suit concerns the enforcement of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights, which cannot be waived merely because students signed an undertaking to obey school regulations.

The appellants further state that before the dispute escalated to litigation, the school had permitted Muslim female students to wear hijab on Fridays, indicating that the right had been acknowledged in practice and therefore could not later be treated as having been abandoned.

The appeal insists that freedom of religion, including the right to wear hijab, is an inalienable constitutional right.

The appellants argue that the Court of Appeal failed to follow the binding precedent of the Supreme Court in Lagos State Government v. AbdulKareem (2022) 17 NWLR (Pt. 1859) 2013, where the apex court held that compelling students to dress contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs amounts to a violation of their fundamental rights.

The appellants also argue that the Court of Appeal's decision was against the weight of evidence.