The lawsuit to prevent Saturday elections and exams is dismissed by the court

Ugochukwu Uchenwa, an elder in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, filed a lawsuit hoping to have elections and exams held on Saturdays dismissed by an Abuja Federal High Court.

The complainant had argued that scheduling elections and tests for Saturdays went against his and other churchgoers’ freedom to practice their religion as they saw fit.

Uchenwa begged the court to rule that scheduling exams and elections for Saturdays is unlawful.

Alternatively, the plaintiff beseeched the court to provide him and other churchgoers permission to vote or take exams on any other day of the week, even on Sundays.

The President, the Federation’s Attorney General, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Independent National Electoral Commission, and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Examinations were named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The Ministry of Education, the Council of Legal Education, the National Business and Technical Examination Board, the West African Examination Council, and the National Examination Council are some of the others.

Judge James Omotosho, however, declared in his Wednesday ruling that the lawsuit was pointless, vexatious, irksome, and frivolous.

Omotosho continued, saying that the plaintiff’s basic rights were not unalienable and could not be restricted by a law.

He went on, “The teaching of the Seventh-day Adventist Church could not be imposed on the majority of other religious faiths in Nigeria because the church is in the minority there.

Following the verdict, Benjamin Ahaemefule, the plaintiff’s attorney, told reporters that his client was going to the Court of Appeal to have the law further tested.

Ahaemefule stated that although though his client won in several areas of the lawsuit, they were unsuccessful in the primary litigation, which is why they had to file an appeal with the higher court.

“The court agreed with us that it has jurisdiction to hear our matter,” the speaker declared.

The court also concurred with us that Elder Uchenwa possesses the locus standi necessary to initiate legal action to uphold his fundamental rights and the rights of all Nigerian Seventh-day Adventist church members.

The judge concurred with us that the Adventists’ rights have been violated.

But the court declined to uphold our rights, stating that Adventists are a minority rather than a majority.

The court decided that even though our rights are being violated, the violation is legitimate and required by law.

Accordingly, the court turned down our substantive request, stating that doing so would allow other Nigerian nationals to file lawsuits to defend their own rights.

“The court made a legal error when it determined that, despite the Adventists’ cause of action, their right could not be implemented due to their minority status.”