Mrs. Gladys Nchelem Ihunda is the Registrar of
the West African Health Examination Board(WAHEB) which the regulatory body in
charge of Schools of Health Technology and Hygiene in Nigeria. WAHEB organises
qualifying exams for these schools.
Mrs. Ihunda has been denying
Muslim candidates for this Examination their Constitutional right to attend
Jumu'ah Prayer for 3 years now! She does so by single-handedly scheduling
examinations between 12:30pm and 3:00pm on Fridays while Jumu'at service holds
between 1:00 and 2:30.
This year, as usual, Mrs.
Ihunda scheduled a paper between 12:30 and 3:00 on Friday, the 11th of
November, 2017. This means every Muslim candidate for this Examination must
choose between his religious rites and his career. This has been happening for
3 years now.
The tradition of the Board
before Ihunda had been to either schedule only one paper on Fridays or schedule
two papers from 9am - 11:30am and from 2:30pm to 5pm so as to allow Muslims to
attend Friday prayer between 1:00pm and 2:30pm. This had been the practice of
the immediate past Registrar, Mr. E. B. Asoto.
However, Mrs. Ihunda reversed
this long standing tradition immediately she came on board 3 years ago. Several
complaints had been lodged to her on this issue over the years and she
severally promised to rectify the situation against subsequent examinations,
but she ignored each of them without any explanation.
It is to be noted that
Jumu'ah Prayer is obligatory on every adult male Muslim. It goes without saying
that Mrs. Ihunda's attitude and action as explained above is a violation of
Muslim candidates' right to worship. Nigeria can only flourish when we all
respect another's faith and tradition.
It is in view of the
foregoing that we call on WAHEB to immediately review its 2017 timetable to
allow Muslim students the opportunity to exercise their Constitutional right to
worship in congregation on 3rr November, 2017 and all other Fridays in the
future.
We also call on the
Ministries of Health and Education and other concerned authorities to weigh
into this matter and call Gladys Nchelem Ihunda and her co-travellers to order.
Further, we call on the
Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, the Muslim Rights Concern and other
concerned organisations to and their voice to this call.
Please SHARE until it gets to
all CONCERNED authorities.
Audu Bulama Bukarti
24/10/2017
24/10/2017
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