THE Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has called on the management of West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) to adjust its examination timetable of the 2020 West Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) set to commence on August 17, and stop provoking Muslims forthwith.
“Our message to WAEC is very clear and simple: Adjust your timetable and stop provoking Muslims forthwith,”, Ishaq Akintola, MURIC Director, said in a statement on Monday.
The body rejected the timetable saying that the dates clashed with Muslims’ Friday prayers.
Akintola accused the examination body of creating a wedge between young Muslims and the mosque, adding that said the timetable is exclusive, sectional, parochial, insensitive and provocative.
He noted that there are three occasions where the WAEC timetable have clashed with the Muslims’ Friday prayers.
“There are at least three clashes between examination periods and Muslim prayers on Fridays: Management-in-Living (2 pm, Friday 14th August 2020); Literature-in-English (2 pm, Friday 21st August); Health Science (1.30 pm, Friday, 4th September),” Ishaq Akintola said.
MURIC called the examination schedule an invitation to anarchy, designed to cause pain to Muslim candidates.
Akintola said that the timetable is the handiwork of sadists and anarchists which he said smirks of anti-Muslim machinery oiled by the passion for hate and injustice.
He further stated that the group had earlier written a statement to ‘caution’ WAEC on fixing examinations during the Juma’t prayers.
”This is in spite of efforts made by us to guard against this kind of clash,” he added.
MURIC noted that the refusal of WAEC to heed to the ‘caution’ shows a deliberate action from the examination council to target Muslims for persecution.
According to the Muslim body, there are enough evidences to show that this is not the first time WAEC would fix examinations during the Juma’t praying hours.
“There is also enough evidence that this is not the first time WAEC will fix examinations during the Muslim prayer period on Friday. MURIC’s struggle with WAEC over the Friday question is of great antiquity. Unfortunately WAEC does not appear ready to learn from history,” MURIC wrote.
The statement read that the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Ministry of Education should check for the ‘excesses’ of WAEC in fixing examination timetables.
Consequently, the group charged WAEC to adjust the timetable to allow Muslims students observe the Jum’at prayers insisting that Muslim candidates must be given three hours every Friday.
He also added that Nigerian Muslims will liberate themselves from slavery, serfdom, and religious apartheid if the government is lackadaisical.