Abaya Day: Kano university to celebrate popular Arabian attire annually

Kano State University of Science and Technology has set aside May 27 to celebrate Arabian cloth known as “abaya”.

The day will be marked annually.

The abaya is a loose fitting long garment that reaches to the ankles. It is popular for women in Muslim-dominated Northern Nigeria.

The decision to celebrate it came after some male students harassed a female student for her outfit.

In a viral online video, the students can be seen taunting the female student dressed in abaya with chants of “Mai Abaya”.

The school management described the actions of the male students as shameful and said their suspension was to serve as a warning to others.

Seventeen male students are under investigation for their role in the incident and at least five have been suspended.

They were apprehended on Thursday for allegedly harassing the female student who wore the free flowing Arabian dress.

The victim told the BBC that she cried after the incident as it was the first time she was subjected to such because of her outfit.

“I cried because I don’t dress indecently and the abaya covered my body properly,” she said.

It is rare for Muslim women in northern Nigeria to be harassed for their outfits and this harassment is linked to posts on social media from two weeks ago.

Before the Salah celebrations, some northern young women took to social media to say they were willing to do anything to be rewarded with the outfit, says the BBC’s Mansur Abubakar in Kano.

This led to insinuations that ladies who put it on must have sold their virtues to buy it as the dress is relatively expensive.

This prompted some men to begin to mock women seen in the outfit with shouts of “abaya”, he said.

Hisbah, the Sharia police in the state, has also warned men that they face arrest and prosecution if they harass women wearing the abaya.