There is a continued outrage over the denial of the National Council for Legal Education to deny a first class graduate of Common Law at the University of Ilorin, Firdaus Amasa the right to be called to bar for insisting to wear Hijab at the call to bar ceremony.
There have been arguments for and against her decision.
Amidst the raging issue, President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud has reacted to the trending story that has generated mixed reactions both on social media and offline.
Mahmoud, sharing a photo of British-Nigerian lawyer Olufunke Abimbola who received an MBE for promoting diversity in the legal profession, said that “the Hijab issue will be addressed.”
He promised that the Association would look into the circumstances in which Amasa Firdaus, a graduate of University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) was prevented from being called to the Bar on Tuesday.
The prospective call to bar candidate reportedly insisted on wearing her hijab in adherence to her religious beliefs and refused entreaties to do otherwise. She was subsequently locked out and could not participate in the ceremony.
Firdaus’ plight has garnered nationwide attention and has been the subject of a debate about the constitutional right to freedom of worship and the obligation to respect laid out rules. A call for Firdaus to be admitted to the Bar has also been trending with the hashtag #JusticeForFirdaus.
Writing on his Twitter handle, @abmtwitt, Mr Mahmoud said Firdaus’ plight would be addressed while also adding that the NBA would embrace diversity.
“UK based Nigerian lawyer recognized for promoting diversity in the legal profession. The NBA will embrace diversity and tolerance in the Nigerian legal profession. The Hijab issue will be addressed,” Mahmoud said.
The NBA President went further to share a picture of his daughter being admitted to the New York Bar while wearing a hijab and declared that the argument over hijab in Nigeria was needless.
Aside the NBA President, Muslim Rights Group across the country have also berated the development.
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It is only in Nigeria that we do not have tolerance for allowing individuals to act in line with the tenets of their faith, we tend to pretend to be more Roman Catholic than the Pope, the UK where we adopted Christianity and civilization from, allows Muslims to wear their Hijab, even to school, why can't a Nigerian Christian(hiding under convention) condone a Nigerian Muslim lady to wear Hijab even when there are judgements and precedences in favour of wearing Hijab