Around 6:25am Cultists, attacked passengers waiting on the BRT queue at Ketu Bus stop. There have been fights at Ketu, Ikosi & Mile12 over the night. They attacked with knives, cutlasses, & rob harmless people; students inclusive, right beside a @PoliceNG station. @Gidi_Traffic

Cult clash at Ketu, Ikosi Road in Lagos State. The headquarters of cultism in Nigeria is in Lagos State and we are not ready for this discussion. This is the Lagos under the leadership of the so called Jagaban of Lagos,
@AsiwajuTinubu
and his godson
@jidesanwoolu
.

Less than 72hrs from passing the Anti Cult bill with a 10yr jail term. A deadly rivalry cult clash that has claimed lives has been on going in Ikosi Ketu since last night with NO SHOW OF FORCE by the Nigerian Police. The killings & burnings is happening under their close watch.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says the strange illness in Kano is caused by food poisoning.

Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC director-general, confirmed this in an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday.

TheCable had reported how the outbreak of a strange infection had led to the death of two persons and hospitalisation of 183 others in the state.

As of the time of reporting, the cause of the illness was only suspected to be food poisoning.

The state ministry of health confirmed that the affected patients presented symptoms of haematuria which causes bloody urine or dark urine, fever, lethargy, and sometimes jaundice.

Adeyeye described the incident as ”very serious”, adding that investigations are still in progress.

“The Kano incident is a case of food poisoning with flavored drinks that has a chemical called dansami. It is very serious because the food poisoning resulted in diarrhea, vomiting, and hospitalisation,” she said.

“Our zonal director, Pharmacist Gimba, is on top of this and our pharmacovigilance officers are also investigating what actually happened.

“We’re going to do a lot of testing in the lab to know the nature of this chemical that probably led to the food poisoning.

The director-general, however, said she does not yet have details on the origin of the flavored drinks.

She said though the chances of recurrence are minimal, NAFDAC is yet to find out if it approved the manufacturing of the drink.

“But our pharmacovigilance is already there; so once we discover the cause, we’ll know what next to do in terms of arresting the culprit or bringing them to the office to know what is going on,” she said.

"The chances of recurrence are minimal. But we don’t even know whether the flavored drinks are smuggled. We sometimes find out that manufacturing is not approved by NAFDAC. So, we just have to find out whether this particular flavored drink was approved by NAFDAC.”

"Educationally, the North is the most backward region in Nigeria. The situation was worse decades ago"

"Statistically, education started booming and growing since 2010 in the North. Some people are not comfortable with this trend. So they want to destroy it finally by creating fear among pupils and parents. Because education brings liberation and some people will do anything to maintain the staus quo."

An Ile-Tuntun Customary Court in Ibadan on Wednesday, ordered a man, Jimoh Falola, to wash public toilets for 30 days for being rude to the court.

In his ruling, the President of the court, Chief Henry Agbaje held that Falola had no regards for constituted authority from the way he insulted the court while the court was sitting.
Agbaje consequently ordered Falola to be taken away by the police until he is ready to comport himself in a civil and orderly manner.

”He is ordered to embark on 30-day community service which include clearing the bush, sweeping the cutting, road sweeping and washing of public toilets.
The arbitrator subsequently adjourned the case until March 29 for hearing. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Opeyemi, filed a divorce suit against her estranged husband, Falola. Falola refused to appear on two sittings.

When he finally appeared, he accused the court workers of receiving money as inducement from his wife so as to favour her. He also shouted at the top of his voice while the court was sitting.

Teen 'mastermind' pleads guilty to celeb Twitter hack

17 March 2021


Graham Ivan Clark was arrested on 30 charges

A US teenager has pleaded guilty to hacking several high-profile Twitter accounts in a large-scale Bitcoin scam.

Graham Ivan Clark was 17 when he co-ordinated the scam - which hijacked the profiles of celebrities, including Kim Kardashian West, Kanye West, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Barack Obama.

He would spend three years in prison as part of his plea deal, a Florida court filing said.

But Clark has already served 229 days of this three-year sentence.

Now 18, but sentenced as a "youthful offender", he may also be able to serve some of the sentence at a boot camp, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

But Clark will also be banned from using computers without permission and supervision from law enforcement.

The scam

The hack, on 15 July last year, promoted a scam in which hijacked celebrity accounts encouraged followers to donate bitcoin to coronavirus-relief projects.

"Everyone is asking me to give back," a tweet purportedly sent from Mr Gates's account said. "You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000."

More than $117,000 (£84,200) of the cryptocurrency was collected through the scam.

The money had been handed to the authorities to be returned to the victims, Clark's lawyer said.


Technology companies Apple and Uber were also hacked

It was alleged Clark had imitated a member of Twitter staff to gain access to the company's networks and worked with two other hackers to complete the heist.

Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando, and Mason Sheppard, 19, of Bognor Regis, have been charged with federal crimes.

The family of Mr Sheppard have declined to comment and the Home Office said it "does not comment on extradition requests".

ICPC arrests Ex-JAMB Registrar, Professor Ojerinde over N900m Fraud

ICPC has arrested a former Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Dibu Ojerinde, for allegedly misappropriating N900 million.

Professor Ojerinde, who was arrested on 15th March, 2021, in Abuja, by operatives of ICPC, is alleged to have committed multiple frauds while heading JAMB and the National Examination Council (NECO).He has been detained by the Commission for questioning over allegations of multiple identities, abuse of office, money laundering, tax evasion and making false statements to public officials.

He has been detained by the Commission for questioning over allegations of multiple identities, abuse of office, money laundering, tax evasion and making false statements to public officials.

The former JAMB boss is also being questioned by the Commission for allegedly awarding fraudulent contracts to shell companies which cannot be traced.

He was alleged to have awarded contracts for the supply of pencil and eraser at the cost of N450 million each, to Double 07 Concept Limited and Pristine Global Concept Limited, respectively, between 2013 and 2014 while heading JAMB.

The Nigerian Army has recalled about 149 soldiers of the 153 Infantry Battalion, Marte accused of abandoning the Boko Haram insurgency fight and fleeing over alleged inadequate provision of arms and ammunition.

SaharaReporters gathered that the soldiers absconded from duty after insurgents attacked their camps, leaving scores of their colleagues dead.

The insurgents had on Monday, February 15 overrun Marte.

While most of the villagers ran away for safety, some were held by the insurgents.

SaharaReporters gathered that the gunmen came with heavy machine guns and trucks, and took possession of the military formation in the community, including high profile fighting equipment and vehicles.

At least 10 soldiers were killed during the incident.

The gunmen also set ablaze two battle tanks and a pickup van belonging to the Nigerian Army.

“We lost about 10 soldiers in the fight, the troops were outgunned by the gunmen. It was an intense battle, the terrorists also suffered casualties but they were able to overwhelm the soldiers,” a military source had said.

SaharaReporters gathered that soldiers were moved to Maiduguri few days after the attack while those from Jaji Military Cantonment, Kaduna State, were used to replace them.

The army authorities subsequently dismissed them and retrieved their uniforms and identity cards.

“We were overwhelmed and could not withstand the superior firepower of the terrorists. Sufficient weapons were not provided for us to fight the terrorists and we ran out of weapons. Some of the weapons provided for us were obsolete, so it was not really our fault.

“We have been told to resume, I’m so happy,” one of the dismissed soldiers told SaharaReporters.

A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, Wednesday, dismissed the appeal filed by the Attorney General of Imo State and forty others challenging the ruling of an Owerri Federal High Court, which granted Senator Rochas Okorocha the leave to amend processes filed before the Court, IgbereTV reports.

Presiding Judge in the Suit with Suit No:CA/ABJ/CV/942/2020, Justice Dattijo Yahaya, dismissed the appeal, following a notice of discontinuance dated and filed on March 16 by the Attorney General of Imo State, Cyprain Akaolisa, on behalf of the appellants.

Counsel to Senator Rochas Okorocha, Oba Maduabuchi, opposed the withdrawal of the appeal on the ground that the appellants want to deceive the Court by pretending to discontinue the appeal and go back to Imo State and complete what they intend to do before returning to the Court.

He said the appellants were only interested in humiliating the Senator by marking his properties and those of his associates for demolition during the pendency of the suit before a Federal High Court in Owerri and the appeal before the Court of Appeal.

The Presiding Judge however struck out the appeal on the premise that an appellant has the right to withdraw an appeal following a notice of discontinuance properly filed before the Court.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the ruling, Okorocha’s Counsel, stated that, “the appeal was against the ruling of a lower Court allowing us to amend our processes. Imo State government jumped to the Court of Appeal, saying that it was wrong to allow us to amend our processes.

“They filed their brief; I filed my brief and filed an objection that the appeal is incompetent. Then we filed a motion that every step they have taken, including the arrest and humiliation of Rochas Okorocha during the pendency of this matter must be set aside by the Court of Appeal. We served them with that Motion, they have not filed a counter to it, they went ahead to mark properties belonging to has and his associates for demolition based upon the proceedings of the panels of inquiry that took place during the pendency of both this Appeal and the matter in the lower Court, which is abuse of process of Court.”

He continued that, “now they have achieved their objective which is to humiliate Rochas, to take over his properties, they have withdrawn the appeal, so what can be more abusive of the process of Court than that.

“When the matter is pending in the Court of Appeal you go and round up proceeding in your panel on enquiry, while the matter is pending in the Court of Appeal you go and forfeit the properties of Rochas Okorocha, you went and Mark his properties for demolition. This is the impunity we have been shouting about, people do things the way they want to do it and not the way the law the law asked them to do it.

“How can you file an appeal you know is incompetent, then while the appeal is pending in the Court of Appeal, you know ask your panels of inquiry to conclude and submit their reports and you issues white paper, seal people’s houses, mark them for demolition while the appeal is pending in the Court of Appeal, that is obviously an abuse of Court process.”

The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the plan by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt Refinery with $1.5bn.

The decision was taken at the weekly meeting of the council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The minister said, “The Ministry of Petroleum Resources presented a memo on the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt refinery for the sum of $1.5bn, and that memo was $1.5 billion and it was approved by council today.

“So, we are happy to announce that the rehabilitation of the refinery will commence in three phases. The first phase is to be completed in 18 months, which will take the refinery to a production of 90 percent of its nameplate capacity.

“The second phase is to be completed in 24 months and all the final stage will be completed in 44 months and consultations are approved.

“And I believe that this is good news for Nigeria.”

Amnesty International UK has shortlisted CNN’s Lekki Tollgate investigative report for the Amnesty UK Media Awards 2021.

The investigation was shortlisted under the Broadcast News category, alongside BBC Africa Eye: Lagos Inferno: The Explosion that Rocked Nigeria; Channel 4 News: Carers in Scotland denied death in service payment; and Sky News: Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis.

The Amnesty Media Award, which has been running for 29 years, aims at recognising the vital role journalists play and the serious risks they face in highlighting human rights abuses around the world.

The CNN investigation was carried out after the Lekki toll gate shooting.

In October 2020, young Nigerians protested across major cities against police brutality. The organised protest went on peacefully for days until the Nigerian military forcefully dispersed marchers who were keeping vigil at the Lekki Toll Plaza on October 20.

Many fatalities were recorded but the authorities continue to deny wrongdoing despite pieces of evidence such as those highlighted via the CNN report among other exclusives reported by Peoples Gazette.

Non-state actors, nudged by government agents also hijacked the protest in the aftermath of Lekki shooting, wreaking carnage on public utilities and harassing innocent citizens.

The Nigerian Army called all allegations that it fired into the crowd “fake news” but later told a judicial panel of inquiry that it did not shoot at any civilian, but the CNN investigation, published on November 18, uncovered evidence that Nigerian security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters.

The judging panel for the awards were made up of high-profile UK journalists and Amnesty representatives.

The winners of each category will be announced at a virtual event on Wednesday 28 April.

How Armoured Carriers, Others Acquired Under Buratai From $1billion Fund Were Stolen By Boko Haram

No fewer than 15 Armoured Personnel Carriers and tanks purchased for the Nigerian Army in 2020 under the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai (retd.), from the $1 billion fund approved by the Nigerian government were lost to the Boko Haram terrorists within the same year they were bought.

SaharaReporters learnt that at least four countries supplied the APCs to the Nigerian Army in 2020 which were China, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and South Africa.

The breakdown of the Armoured Personnel Carriers obtained by SaharaReporters further revealed that about 21 armoured carriers were ordered between 2018 and 2019 when the $1 billion fund from the Excess Crude Account was approved and released to the military to aid the counter-insurgency war in the North-East.

The President Muhammadu Buhari government – against public criticisms on whether the funds would not be mismanaged – had gone ahead to approve the ECA fund in April 2018.

SaharaReporters learnt that when the funds which were allotted to the army came, Buratai deployed part of it to obtain the APCs from the four countries – although the arms ended up being stolen or destroyed by the Boko Haram terrorists the same year due to Buratai’s poor battle judgment and politicisation of the army under his watch.

On Wednesday, the breakdown of the 21 APCs ordered between 2018 and 2020 showed that, “Nigeria ordered six VT-4 and ZTL-09 armoured tanks from China in 2019 and the six were supplied in 2020. Nigeria ordered three Marauder APCs from South Africa in 2018 and the three were supplied in 2019. Nigeria ordered five KLTV-181 armoured carriers from South Korea in 2020 and the five came in 2020.

“Finally, Nigeria ordered eight Phantom-2 armoured carriers from the United Arab Emirates in 2020 and the eight were supplied in 2020.”

Sources in the army said about 15 of the APCs have been stolen by the insurgents.

“Most of the APCs were stolen by the Boko Haram during various operations in 2020. The terrorists knew through informants in the army that new ammunition came and so, they intensified attacks on military bases. The army under Buratai was already distressed, politicised and everyone was an informant,” a top source in the army revealed.

“In December 2020, we lost some of them to the Islamic State West Africa Province’s fighters. We lost the South Korea’s KLTV-181 military tactical-utility vehicle which were designed and manufactured by Kia Motors Corporation,” he further explained.

SaharaReporters had exclusively reported on Tuesday that about $381 million was released to the army and navy out of the $1billion for the purchase of critical equipment.

Last week, the National Security Adviser, Maj Gen Babagana Monguno (retd,), had raised an alarm that the funds meant for the purchase of arms to fight Boko Haram and other security challenges in the country were missing.

Although under pressure, he later recanted and said he was misquoted.

In an interview he granted to the BBC Hausa, Monguno had said, “Mr President is going to investigate those funds. As we are talking with you at present, the state governors, the Governors Forum have started raising questions in that direction. $1 billion has been released, and that has been released, and nothing seems to be changing. So I assure you that the president will not take this lightly.

“The funds are nowhere to be found and the weapons have not been seen and the newly appointed service chiefs have declared that they have not seen the weapons.”

Three members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) were on Wednesday docked before Chief Magistrate Olaide Hamzat of the Oyo State Chief Magistrate Court sitting at Iyaganku in Ibadan over allegations of murder and arson.

The trio; Awodele Adedigba (45); Dauda Kazeem (38) and Hassan Ramon (33) were presented before the court on a three-count charge bordering on conspiracy, murder and arson.

The prosecuting counsel, Inspector Opeyemi Olagunju had alleged before the court that the suspects had on March 7, 2021, at about 8 a.m at Kajola village in Ayete, caused the death of a 45-year-old woman.

He further alleged that the trio of Awodele, Dauda and Hassan allegedly set fire to the house of the Ibarapa “warlord” Abdullahi Wakili, valued at N5 million, an offence which he said contravenes the provisions of Sections 316, 324, 443 and 516 of the Criminal Code of Oyo State 2000.

However, the pleas of the suspects were not taken due to issues surrounding the inherent jurisdiction of the court to hear matters of that nature, so the court ordered that the trio be remanded at the Abolongo Custodial Centre of the Nigerian Correctional Service in Oyo

Magistrate Hamzat further ordered the police to send the case file to the office of the Oyo State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice and adjourned the matter till April 21, 2021, for mention.

Some Yoruba youths on Monday removed Nigerian flags and replaced them with Oduduwa Republic flags around Teslim Balogun Stadium, in Surulere, Lagos State.

This was seen in a viral video shared on Instagram.

Nigeria is facing many challenges, some bordering on insecurity in the South which have recently contributed to agitations for self-determination.

The unabated killing and kidnapping of people in the South-West by suspected Fulani herdsmen and the Nigerian government's failure to solve the problem have also caused tensions between the region and North.

The murderous herders have killed thousands of people, burnt houses, destroyed farms and people's means of livelihood, displaced villagers, raped women, among other atrocities yet the government and security agencies have appeared helpless in tackling the problems.

The hoisting of Oduduwa flags by these youths might also be connected with what a Yoruba elder statesman, Prof. Banji Akintoye, recently said in an interview that “the remedy to the bondage we are in, the remedy to the enslavement we are suffering on our ancestral space is called self-determination."

Burial ceremonies of 4 late Nollywood actors have been fixed for March and April, IgbereTV reports.

Felix Odikaesieme and Dan Nkoloagu will be buried on March while Jim Lawson Maduike And Ernest Asuzu will be buried on April.

See photos attached.

Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi, SAN has appointed Princess Catherine Oludunni Odu as Secretary to the State Government, the first female in the history of the state.

Princess Odu, a legal practitioner, was the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) before her appointment.

This was contained in a statement by the governors Chief Press Secretary, Richard Olabode Olatunde in Akure.

Olatunde said ” Princess Odu has served in many capacities at both the State and Federal levels. She was Federal Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission and at different times, former Commissioner for Women Affairs and Education respectively.

“Her appointment is in recognition of her proven integrity and outstanding record of performance in her previous assignments.

She holds the following Degrees: LLM (University of Lagos), Bachelor Of Law(Nigerian Law School), Bachelor of Law(University of Lagos), Master of Science (Industrial Sociology, University of Calabar) and BSc. Sociology (University of Benin).

Similarly, Governor Akeredolu has approved the appointment of the immediate-past Head of the State Public Service, Mr Dare Aragbaiye as Special Adviser on Union Matters and Special Duties.

Other appointments approved by the Governor include Mrs Olubunmi Adedipe Ademosu – Special Adviser, Public and Intergovernmental Relations, Hon. Babatunde Gabriel Kolawole – Special Adviser, Rural and Community Development, Mr Summy Smart Francis – Special Adviser on Entrepreneurship Development.

Governor Akeredolu congratulated the new appointees and urged them to discharge their duties with utmost responsibilities deserving of the new offices and the accompanying responsibilities.

Olatunde said that “the appointments take immediate effect.

According to him ” the appointees will be sworn in by the Governor on Monday, March 22, 2021, at the Cocoa Conference Hall, Governor’s office Alagbaka, Akure.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, has decried the high price of cement in Nigeria, saying it leads to quackery and building collapse.
Adegbite made the assertion at the second edition of Lafarge Africa Plc Quarterly webinar – Concrete Ideas. It is a platform for deliberation of issues, policies and developments shaping Nigeria’s construction, infrastructure and housing sectors. Theme of the webinar was: “Addressing the Root Cause of Building Collapse in Nigeria.”

The minister, who spoke as the Special Guest of Honour, called on the manufacturers to bring down the price of cement in order to reduce incessant cases of building collapse and quackery. Adegbite, wondering on what drives the price of cement in the country, said that it was sourced locally.

“What is driving the price? As dollar moves, cement price moves; it’s sourced locally,” he said. The minister, however, identified negligence as the major cause of building collapse in the country. He said that the Federal Government, through its housing programme, would provide 1.5 million homes to Nigerians to forestall tragedy of building collapse that often leads to loss of lives and property.

Adegbite said that poor concrete mix ratio, inadequate structural analysis, as well as inadequate supervision by professionals also contributed to building collapse menace. He stressed the need for training and retraining of people to address the problem of building collapse. The minister said that there should be standard of procurement for artisans to practice in the industry.

Also, Mr Joseph Makoju, Chairman, Nigerian Cement Association, said that building collapse increased by 77 per cent from 2010 to 2020. Makoju said that Nigeria needs to ensure proper monitoring system to reduce the figure in the current decade. He said that the association was committed to zero tolerance and would continue to work with the government to ensure safety. “We collaborate to ensure that products pushed out to the markets meet the required standard through technical sales marketing.

“We have to follow through on products, even after sales, down to the end user,” he said. In his remarks, Mr Farouk Salim, the Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), called on the state and local governments to ensure proper supervision of buildings. Salim said that people should be punished when they violated the rules to tackle corruption. He said that 85 per cent of substandard goods in the country come through the ports.

“SON is doing its best with the resources available to ensure standards,” Salim said. He said that the organisation was kicked out of the ports 10 years ago because of ease of doing business which was against SON Act of 2015. “We are working with the relevant authority on getting back to the ports,” Salim said. Earlier, Mr Adebode Adefioye, Chairman, Lafarge Africa, said the company would continue to provide a platform for public disclosure that would address the development needs of the country. Adefioye said that the country recently trained 5,000 artisans to enhance their building skills in line with the global best practice.

Praise be to Allah.

Hijaab in Arabic means covering or concealing. Hijaab is the name of something that is used to cover. Everything that comes between two things is hijaab.

Hijaab means everything that is used to cover something and prevent anyone from reaching it, such as curtains, door keepers and garments, etc.

Khimaar comes from the word khamr, the root meaning of which is to cover. For example, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Khammiru aaniyatakum (cover your vessels).” Everything that covers something else is called its khimaar.

But in common usage khimaar has come to be used as a name for the garment with which a woman covers her head; in some cases this does not go against the linguistic meaning of khimaar.

Some of the fuqahaa’ have defined it as that which covers the head, the temples and the neck.

The difference between the hijaab and the khimaar is that the hijaab is something which covers all of a woman’s body, whilst the khimaar in general is something with which a woman covers her head.

Niqaab is that with which a woman veils her face (tantaqib)…

The difference between hijaab and niqaab is that the hijaab is that which covers all the body, whilst niqaab is that which covers a woman’s face only.

The woman’s dress as prescribed in sharee’ah (“Islamic dress”) is that which covers her head, face and all of her body.

But the niqaab or burqa’ – which shows the eyes of the woman – has become widespread among women, and some of them do not wear it properly.Some scholars have forbidden wearing it on the grounds that it is not Islamic in origin, and because it is used improperly and people treat it as something insignificant, demonstrating negligent attitudes towards it and using new forms of niqaab which are not prescribed in Islam, widening the opening for the eyes so that the cheeks, nose and part of the forehead are also visible.

Therefore, if the woman’s niqaab or burqa’ does not show anything but the eyes, and the opening is only as big as the left eye, as was narrated from some of the salaf, then that is permissible, otherwise she should wear something which covers her face entirely.

Shaykh Muhammad al-Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

The hijaab prescribed in sharee’ah means that a woman should cover everything that it is haraam for her to show, i.e., she should cover that which it is obligatory for her to cover, first and foremost of which is the face, because it is the focus of temptation and desire.

A woman is obliged to cover her face in front of anyone who is not her mahram (blood relative to whom marriage is forbidden). From this we learn that the face is the most essential thing to be covered. There is evidence from the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the views of the Sahaabah and the imams and scholars of Islam, which indicates that women are obliged to cover all of their bodies in front of those who are not their mahrams.

Fataawa al-Mar’ah al-Muslimah, 1/ 391, 392)

Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan (may Allaah preserve him) said:

The correct view as indicated by the evidence is that the woman’s face is ‘awrah which must be covered. It is the most tempting part of her body, because what people look at most is the face, so the face is the greatest ‘awrah of a woman. This is in addition to the shar’i evidence which states that it is obligatory to cover the face.

For example, Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer palms of hands or one eye or dress like veil, gloves, headcover, apron), and to draw their veils all over Juyoobihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms)…”

[al-Noor 24:31]

Drawing the veil all over the juyoob implies covering the face.

When Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) was asked about the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):

“O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies”

[al-Ahzaab 33:59] –

he covered his face, leaving only one eye showing. This indicates that what was meant by the aayah was covering the face. This was the interpretation of Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) of this aayah, as narrated from him by ‘Ubaydah al-Salmaani when he asked him about it.

In the Sunnah there are many ahaadeeth, such as: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The woman in ihraam is forbidden to veil her face (wear niqaab) or to wear the burqa’.” This indicates that when women were not in ihraam, women used to cover their faces.

This does not mean that if a woman takes off her niqaab or burqa’ in the state of ihraam that she should leave her face uncovered in the presence of non-mahram men. Rather she is obliged to cover it with something other than the niqaab or burqa’, on the evidence of the hadeeth of ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) who said: “We were with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in ihraam, and when men passed by us, we would lower the khimaar on our heads over our faces, and when they moved on we would lift it again.”

Women in ihraam and otherwise are obliged to cover their faces in front of non-mahram men, because the face is the center of beauty and it is the place that men look at… and Allaah knows best.

Fataawa al-Mar’ah al-Muslimah, 1/396, 397

He also said:

It is OK to cover the face with the niqaab or burqa’ which has two openings for the eyes only, because this was known at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and because of necessity. If nothing but the eyes show, this is fine, especially if this is customarily worn by women in her society.

Fataawa al-Mar’ah al-Muslimah, 1/399

And Allaah knows best.