Alleged Ethnic Discrimination at UCTH: 2014 Confab Delegate Writes Open Letter to Tinubu Demanding Presidential Intervention
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A rights advocate and constitutional reform campaigner, Chief Mrs. Ifeyinwa Arafat Ezenwa, has written a strongly worded open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over what she described as “grave violations of the 1999 Constitution and a threat to national unity” arising from alleged ethnic discrimination against House Officers at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, UCTH.
In the open letter, which has since entered public discourse, Chief Ezenwa, who is the Chairman of Patriots – Advocacy for Constitutional Reform for a New Constitution, Southeast, and a former delegate to the 2014 National Conference, said she was compelled to write “with a deep sense of patriotism and constitutional responsibility” following a disturbing complaint that gained national attention through Arise News journalist, Mr. Rufai Oseni.
According to her, the complaint was allegedly submitted by House Officers “duly posted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH)” and described actions that, if verified, “constitute clear violations of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999, as amended), professional ethics, and the very idea of Nigeria as one indivisible nation.”
Chief Ezenwa stated that the complaint alleged that “seventeen (17) House Officers were allegedly rejected upon resumption despite valid MDCN postings,” adding that “ethnic origin, particularly Igbo identity, was allegedly cited as a reason for rejection.” She further quoted the complaint as alleging that “some officers were reportedly told to ‘go back to the East,’” while “clearance was allegedly granted to non-Igbo officers while Igbo officers were denied.”
The letter also noted that “unsubstantiated allegations of ‘buying placements’ were reportedly made without evidence,” and that the affected doctors were “left stranded, homeless, and humiliated,” even as “appeals by the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) were allegedly ignored.”
Describing the implications of the allegations, Chief Ezenwa wrote that “if these allegations are established, they amount to institutionalized discrimination within a federal institution,” stressing that such actions, if proven, “directly offend several provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.”
She cited Section 15(2) and 15(3)(a) of the Constitution, which mandate the state to promote national integration and prohibit discrimination on grounds of place of origin or ethnic association, noting that “a Federal Teaching Hospital is meant to foster unity and professionalism, not ethnic exclusion.” She also referenced Section 42(1), which guarantees freedom from discrimination, arguing that “denying duly posted doctors clearance solely or substantially on ethnic grounds constitutes a constitutional injury, not a mere administrative oversight.”
The open letter further invoked Section 17(3)(c) of the Constitution, which obliges the state to ensure equal opportunity for all citizens to secure adequate means of livelihood. Chief Ezenwa emphasized that “housemanship is a mandatory professional requirement for medical practice in Nigeria” and that “arbitrary denial threatens careers, livelihoods, and years of national investment in medical education.”
On the issue of federal character, she argued that Section 14(3) “cannot be enforced through exclusion, humiliation, or unilateral rejection of lawful federal postings, particularly by a Chief Medical Director acting outside the authority of MDCN.”
She maintained that the MDCN is “the statutory body empowered to post House Officers,” warning that “any CMD who unilaterally nullifies or selectively enforces these postings acts ultra vires—beyond the powers of the office.”
Addressing the President directly, Chief Ezenwa reminded him that “under Section 5 of the Constitution, executive powers of the Federation are vested in the President to ensure that laws are faithfully executed,” adding that “silence or inaction in the face of such grave allegations risks normalizing constitutional violations in federal institutions.”
She warned that “unchecked ethnic discrimination in healthcare institutions accelerates medical brain drain, undermines patient care, demoralizes young professionals, and deepens national mistrust.”
In the letter, she made firm demands in the interest of justice, national unity, and constitutional order, including “an immediate and independent investigation into the allegations at UCTH,” “immediate provisional clearance and protection for the affected House Officers pending investigation,” and “clear federal directives reaffirming that MDCN postings are binding on all teaching hospitals.”
She also called for “appropriate disciplinary action, including removal from office, if the CMD is found to have violated constitutional or statutory provisions,” as well as “institutional safeguards to ensure that no federal health institution becomes a platform for ethnic exclusion.”
Concluding the letter, Chief Ezenwa declared that “Nigeria cannot survive selective citizenship,” insisting that “a federal institution must never become an ethnic gatekeeper.” She added pointedly that “the Constitution must be defended not in words, but in action,” expressing trust in the President’s oath of office “to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The open letter was copied to the Honourable Minister of Health, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the Senate Committee on Health, the Nigerian Medical Association, the National Association of Resident Doctors, the National Human Rights Commission, and the media, as the allegations continue to generate public attention and calls for urgent presidential action.
