‘Abaya’: Kano varsity apprehends 17 male students over harassment of female colleague

The Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST) has apprehended 17 students for allegedly harassing a female student who wore the free flowing Arabian dress popularly known as Abaya.

A video that went viral on the social media showed how the lady was circled by a group of students who were harassing and mocking her with chants of ‘Mai Abaya’.

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The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Shehu Alhaji said following reports of harassment by the gang of male students, the institution’s management has taken action and already identified some of them and decisive penalty will be slam on them.

He said the University has constituted a Committee to identify the “unscrupulous Students” involved and recommend immediate disciplinary action to be taken against the culprits without delay to serve as deterrent to others.

Daily Trust reports that since the inception of the Abaya Challenge by social media users, several women have been subjected to harassment mostly by youth and teenage boys.

During the Eid-el-Fitr Sallah celebration, many women said they could not put on the dress because they saw the humiliation suffered by those that wore it.

At inception, the challenge gained acceptance but things took a new turn after the insinuation that ladies who put it on must have sold their virtues to buy it, because the dress is relatively expensive.

Recently in Kano, Daily Trust observed that significant numbers of ladies wearing Abaya were subjected to ridicule in the public.

This was to the extent that a lady was seen crying after being harassed by some young men. She was later rescued by an elderly person.

Aminu Yusuf, who wore it during the Sallah celebration, said she regretted using it.

“You know how women are generally; they don’t want anything negative that will generate people’s attention towards them. That was what happened to me during Sallah. If not that I don’t always care about what people are doing, I would have engage in a fight with them (some boys).

“My Abaya is now at the extreme end of my set of cloth and I will wear it only after this challenge is over,” she said.