“The Seventh-Day Adventist Church is in the minority in Nigeria and its doctrine could not be imposed on the majority of other religious denominations in the country,” Justice James Omotosho of an Abuja Federal High Court has held. He said this while dismissing a suit filed by an elder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ugochukwu Uchenwa, seeking to stop the conduct of elections and examinations on Saturdays.
The plaintiff had contended that fixing elections and examinations on Saturdays violated his rights and that of other members of the church to freedom of worship.
Uchenwa prayed the court to declare the fixing of elections and examinations on Saturdays unconstitutional.
In the alternative, the plaintiff prayed the court to order the defendants to allow him and other members of his church to vote or sit for examinations on any other day of the week, including Sundays.
Listed as defendants in the suit were the President, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Independent National Electoral Commission, and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Examinations.
Others are the National Examination Council, the West African Examination Council, the National Business and Technical Examination Board, the Council of Legal Education, and the Ministry of Education.
However, delivering judgment on the matter on Wednesday, Justice James Omotosho held that the suit was frivolous, vexatious, irritating, and baseless.
Omotosho added that the fundamental rights being claimed by the plaintiff were not at large and could not be curtailed by a government policy. “The Seventh-day Adventist Church is in the minority in Nigeria and its doctrine could not be imposed on the majority of other religious denominations in the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, while addressing journalists after the judgment, counsel for the plaintiff, Benjamin Ahaemefule, said that his client was heading to the Court of Appeal to further test the law.