The Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan has granted an application by the International School Ibadan (ISI) seeking to transmit and regularise its records of appeal in the ongoing legal dispute over the use of hijab by female Muslim students at the school.
The appellate court’s decision came on Thursday during proceedings on the appeal filed to challenge the judgment of the Oyo State High Court delivered on May 22, 2024.
The case originated after ISI refused to allow female Muslim students to wear hijab as part of their school uniform, prompting 11 affected students to approach the Oyo State High Court to enforce their fundamental rights.
In its ruling in 2024, the High Court held that the wearing of hijab by female students in the University of Ibadan-managed school did not constitute an infraction.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, the appellants the University of Ibadan, International School Ibadan (ISI), Yinka Akintunde and Prof. Abideen Aderinto approached the Court of Appeal seeking to overturn the decision.
At Thursday’s hearing, counsel to the appellants, Mr. B. Ajibade, informed the court of an application dated November 11, 2024, requesting permission to transmit and regularise the appellants’ records of appeal.
Ajibade urged the court to grant the application and deem the records as properly filed before the court.
Counsel to the respondents, Mr. Hassan Fajimite, had earlier filed an application seeking to strike out the appeal on the grounds that the appellants were late in transmitting the records. However, he later withdrew the application.
A three-member panel of justices of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Biobele Georgewill, subsequently granted the appellants’ request to regularise and transmit the records of appeal, deeming them properly before the court.
The court also directed all parties to file their respective briefs of argument.
The matter was thereafter adjourned to April 29, 2026, for hearing of the appeal.
