About 4,817 petitioners from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria have asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to desist from holding elections on Saturdays, which according them, is a ‘critical day of worship and a date with God.’
The petition, titled “General Elections and the Religious Rights of Seventh-Day Sabbath Keepers in Nigeria,” was started on Thursday by the church on the global change website, change.org.
Coming less than 48 hours before the Presidential and National Assembly elections, set to take place on Saturday, the church requested that INEC changes the election calendar to any day between Monday and Thursday so as to enable them ‘exercise their rights to freely participate in the election process.’
The petition read in part, “As a nation, we have managed to live with these differences over the last 58 years. And, like many other nations around the world, we are still striving for unity in diversity, Nigeria being a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country.
“As responsible citizens, we, therefore, call on all well-meaning Nigerians to join their voice with ours (Sabbath-keepers) in keeping elections away from Saturdays, at least to guarantee the inalienable rights of teaming members of our faith.
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“As it is, we consider Saturday a date with God, yet we want to participate in our civic duties as patriotic citizens.
“We believe that in the spirit of fairness, this right should not be denied us,” part of the petition read.
