ABUJA — There was a mild drama at the Supreme Court premises in Abuja on Thursday when a human rights activist, Malcolm Omirhobo attended proceedings, dressed as a native doctor.
Omoirhobo who was robed in a black gown with a white shirt and a red wrapper, instead of a black trouser and suit, gained entry into the court barefooted with feathers attached to his lawyer’s wig with a mini-calabash-amulet dangling on his neck.
The lawyer, who also wore amulets on his wrist and ankle, sat comfortably in a row of chairs reserved for legal practitioners while proceedings of the apex court lasted.
Speaking to journalists after he exited the courtroom, the Lagos-based activist, who described himself as a traditionalist, said his decision was based on the Supreme Court judgement that ruled in favour of female Muslim students wearing their head-covering veil (hijab) in public primary and secondary schools in Lagos.
He argued that the judgement empowered him to dress in his religious outfit, being his mode of worship, just as the hijab.
“I am a traditionalist. I have been missing all along until the Supreme Court gave the judgment on Friday that people can now appear in their religious attires of worship in their school and public school for that matter,” he said.
“So, in the circumstance, I just interpreted everything and said they have done the right thing by guaranteeing more of our rights under Section 38 of the Constitution that gives Nigerians the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion from that decision that female students can wear hijab because it is the mode of their worship and any attempt to stop them from wearing it amounts to a violation of their fundamental right. I said, ‘It is good!’
“So, I said I need to also be appearing in my religious attire of worship because it is good for man to be with God all the time. This is my mode henceforth.”
He said the implication of the judgement was that every Nigerian, including doctors, police, military students, and journalists, can now wear their mode of worship in public places, expressing gratitude to the Supreme Court for the ruling which it strengthened and enriched the rights of all Nigerians as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
“My children will go to school like this. I will encourage my relations, my friends; those in the army; those in the police; those in the Navy; doctors; lawyers; they will dress in their mode of worship,” the Delta-born added. “I am very grateful to the Supreme Court. I am very happy about this.”
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