Oyo High Court Orders JAMB to Pay ₦10m Over Hijab Violation in UTME

The Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan has ordered the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to pay ₦10 million in damages to Miss Lawal Hameedat Adenike Olamide, a UTME candidate forced to remove her hijab during the 2025 examination.

Delivering judgment on July 20, 2026, Justice Y. S. Adekunle declared that any rule compelling female candidates to remove hijab for religious purposes is unconstitutional, null, and void under Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Miss Lawal Hameedat Adenike Olamide had sued JAMB for forcing her to remove her Hijab during the University Tertiary Matriculation Examination(UTME) last year.

Being a minor, Miss Lawal sued JAMB and Pefti CBT Centre through her mother, Mrs Basirat Ojo Oba, stating that JAMB’s CBT Centre violated her fundamental human rights and infringed on her rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

In her suit through her counsel, Qousim A. Opakunle, Esq, demanded, among others, an order of the court mandating JAMB and PEFTI to independently write to her apologising for violating her fundamental human rights and also publish the apology letter in two national dailies.

She also demanded compensation from both defendants for violating her fundamental human rights.

In her relief, Miss Lawal asked the court to declare that any rules made by the Defendants making the removal of hijab used for religious purposes by any female candidate of the JAMB is illegal, null, and void and a contradiction to the provisions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

She also asked the court to declare that any rules made by the Defendants that force her to remove her hijab, adorned for religious purposes and making the removal a pre-condition for her to write the UTME on 25th April, 2025 at the PEFTI CBT Centre of 32 Oyo Road Coco Cola Area, Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State violates her fundamental human rights guaranteed and provided in section 38, sub-section (1)(2) and (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.

The court, in its ruling, also declared that the action of the defendants forcing the claimant to remove her Hijab adorned for religious purposes and making the removal a pre- condition for her to write the UTME on the 25th April 2025, at the PEFTI CBT Center, of 32 Oyo Road, Coco Cola Area, Bodija Ibadan, violates the claimant’s fundamental human right guaranteed and provided for, in section 38, subsection (1),(2), and (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

The court also directed JAMB and PEFTI CBT Centre to issue a formal apology to the claimant, publish it in two national dailies within seven days. It also awarded a payment of N10 million to the claimant by the Defendants jointly as well as payment of N500,000 as cost of suit by the Defendants.

Counsel to the claimant, Qousim A. Opakunle Esq, commended the ruling, stressing the importance of protecting minors’ fundamental rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

… Oyo High Court Orders JAMB to Pay ₦10m Over Hijab Violation in UTME … Naijaonpoint.