A Member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church of Nigeria, Ugochukwu Uchenwa, Wednesday, loses bid seeking the prohibition of the conduct of elections and examinations on Saturdays in Nigeria.
Justice James Kolawole Omotoso of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit instituted against the Federal Government for being frivolous, vexatious, irritating and baseless.
According to the plaintiff, Saturday is its Sabbath day of worship and that fundamental rights of its members are being brutally breached by the conduct of elections and examinations on Saturdays.
Specifically the plaintiff, through his counsel, Benjamin Amaefina, sought order of the Court to prohibit the FG from further conducting elections and examinations on the Sabbath day so as to stop disruption of their rights to worship.
Consequently, he prayed the court to declare the fixing of elections and examinations on Saturdays as unconstitutional.
In the alternative, the plaintiff asked the court to order the defendants to allow him and other members of his church to vote or take examinations on any other day of the week including Sundays.
Listed as defendants in the suit are President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Minister of Internal Affairs, Joint Admission and Matriculation Examinations (JAMB), National Examination Council (NECO), West African Examination Council, (WAEC) and the National Business and Technical Examination Board.
Delivering his judgement, Justice Omotoso held that the fundamental rights being claimed by the church were not at large and cannot be curtailed by government policy.
Besides, the Judge held that the Seventh Day Adventist Church is in the minority in Nigeria and cannot impose its doctrine on the majority of other religious denominations in the country.
