Who is Amasa Firdaus?

Who is this Nigerian Law School graduate causing all the controversy about Hijab? I understand one Amasa Firdaus, a Muslim, refused to remove her hijab on graduation day and was subsequently denied call to bar.

Well, the school Authority was certainly right in denying her call to Bar. You cannot subscribe to the norms, conventions, rules, and practices of an institution and then turn round to do the exact opposite. You cannot be a deviant in a profession that thrives on norms, rules, mode of practice, ethos and ethics.

This is not about your religious right; it is about the right and authority of the institution to prescribe its own rules and practices which every member, including you, must obey. The moment you sign the dotted lines on admission, you invariably and willingly give up some of your own personal rights; your rights now become subordinate to the rights and rules of the institution. You cannot now come and make an about turn. No, it is not done!

You are not the only Muslim student of the Law School. You knew the rules before you subscribed to them. In any case, the graduation ceremony was a secular ceremony and the school itself is a secular school in a secular country. So, you cannot now begin to impose your own rules. You do not call the shots. The Nigerian Law School is an institution of the secular and sovereign state of Nigeria, it does not belong to you; so your personal rule cannot apply here.

As a lawyer – oh, an aspiring lawyer – you should know that if you go to court, the rules of the court must apply, not yours.

Whoever advised you to toe that inglorious line did not do so in good faith. And if you orchestrated this controversy so as to gain instant recognition, I doubt it will pay off. In legal profession, you have to pay your dues. There is no short cut to success; you have to take the stairs.

So, get down on your high horse and apologize to the Nigerian Law School, the Council of Legal Education and Nigerians in general for the needless embarrassment.