A human Rights lawyer, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, on Thursday stormed Supreme Court in native doctor attires, apparently in a protest against the Apex Court judgement approving the wearing of Hijab by female Muslim students in Lagos State Schools.
It was gathered that the attire in which he attended the court proceedings, was an “Olokun priest” attire
The lawyer entered into the court barefoot with feathers attached to his legal wig.
He was also wearing a gourd on his necklace with cowries and a red wrapper tied around his waist.
Recall that the Apex Court, last week ruled in favour of the Muslim community in Lagos on the issue of the wearing of hijab by Muslim female students in a case brought by the Lagos State Government
Five out of the seven members of the court’s panel which sat on the case ruled in favour of hijab while the two remaining members dissented.
The Network gathered that when Omirhobo, walked in his native Doctor regalia, into the Supreme Court, the Justices who were on seat looked up in awe, surprise and shock at themselves and without a word, immidiately went on recess.
Chief Omirhobo, while explaining himself in a Video stated that since the Supreme Court had ruled last week that students could wear Hijab to schools in Lagos, that what it means was that the Court had given every religion a right to dress the way the believers wish to dress.
He added that he decided to dress like a traditionalist and native doctor from now on to court since the Supreme Court has given religious freedom to all religions.
The lawyer was confronted by the police who approached him to leave the court room but he refused arguing that he has the right to come to the court in his traditional regalia without any harassment in line with the judgment.
The court proceedings were abruptly stopped when the presiding justice suddenly announced that they would be going for a short break.
The development led to commotion as the situation attracted a large crowd who besieged the courtroom in their large numbers taking pictures with their phones.
Addressing journalists, Omirhobo said with the judgement of the Supreme Court, every Nigerian has the fundamental rights to dress accordingly to his or her religion.
“I am very grateful to the Supreme Court just last week Friday they made a very resounding decision that promotes Section 38 of the constitution.
“That is our right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. That we are free to express our way of worship in our schools and in our courts. That decision was reached on Friday and that has encouraged me.
“Because I am a traditionalist and this is the way I worship. Based on the decision of the Supreme Court this is how I will be dressing henceforth in court because I am a strong adherent to “Olokun” the god of rivers.” He stated.
According to him, 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.
He emphatically stated that he was not against the judgement rather he was happy with the decision because, “it strengthened and enriched the rights of all Nigerians as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”
