A Federal Excessive Courtroom in Abuja has dismissed a go well with filed by an elder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ugochukwu Uchenwa, in search of to cease 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 different members of the church to freedom of worship.
Uchenwa prayed the court docket to declare the fixing of elections and examinations on Saturdays unconstitutional.
Within the different, the plaintiff prayed the court docket to order the defendants to permit him and different members of his church to vote or sit for examinations on every other day of the week, together with Sundays.
Listed as defendants within the go well with had been the President, the Lawyer-Basic of the Federation, the Minister of Inner Affairs, the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee, and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Examinations.
Others are the Nationwide Examination Council, the West African Examination Council, the Nationwide Enterprise and Technical Examination Board, the Council of Authorized Schooling, and the Ministry of Schooling.
Nonetheless, delivering judgment on the matter on Wednesday, Justice James Omotosho held that the go well with was frivolous, vexatious, irritating, and baseless.
Omotosho added that the basic rights being claimed by the plaintiff weren’t at giant and couldn’t be curtailed by a authorities coverage.
“The Seventh-day Adventist Church is within the minority in Nigeria and its doctrine couldn’t be imposed on nearly all of different non secular denominations within the nation,” he added.
Addressing journalists after the judgment, counsel for the plaintiff, Benjamin Ahaemefule, mentioned that his consumer was heading to the Courtroom of Attraction to additional take a look at the regulation.
Ahaemefule mentioned that though his consumer had victory in some facets of the go well with, they misplaced in the primary go well with, therefore the necessity to strategy the appellate court docket.
He mentioned, “The court docket agreed with us that it has jurisdiction to listen to our matter.
“The court docket additionally agreed with us that elder Uchenwa has the locus standi to institute the motion for the enforcement of his basic rights and people of all the members of the Seventh-day Adventist church Nigeria.
“The court docket agreed with us that the rights of the Adventists are breached.
“The court docket, nevertheless, refused to implement our proper, saying that Adventists are within the minority and never within the majority.
“The court docket held that though our rights are infringed upon, the infringement is legally mandatory and justifiable.
“So the court docket refused to grant our substantive request as a result of it mentioned that granting it would open a flood gate of litigation by different residents of Nigeria who will come out to implement their very own rights.
“The court docket erred in regulation, when it held that though the adventists have explanation for motion however that proper cannot be enforced as a result of the Adventists are within the minority.”
