ELDERS of Seventh Day Adventist Church in Nigeria yesterday urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Federal Government to desist from fixing elections on Saturdays.
Saturday is the worship day for members of the Christian denomination worldwide.
The Church stakeholders claimed that letters have been sent to the appropriate government institutions on the need to fix elections for any of the working days instead of Saturday.
They also noted that apart from Saturday, both Sunday and Friday should also be exempted as election days. This, they noted, is to allow both Christians and Muslims to enable them observe their religious obligations.
The newly re-elected President of the Western Union of Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Nigeria, Pastor Oyeleke Owolabi, who spoke with reporters on behalf of the elders at a press conference in Akure, the Ondo State capital, noted that many countries in the world do not conduct elections on Saturday, stressing that this was to allow for religious liberty.
He said, “We are not being selfish; what we are clamouring for is that elections should not be conducted on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays, because these days are spent by Christians and Muslims as their worship days.
“Saturday should be set aside for us to worship. Why can’t the government conduct elections on a working day except Fridays,”he asks.