Church Alerts On Plan To Disenfranchise Members

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church has appealed to the Federal Government to change the days of conducting the forthcoming general elections from Saturdays to enable its members participate.

Pastor Bassey Udoh, the President, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Eastern Nigerian Union, made the appeal in an interview with our correspondent on Monday in Aba.

Udoh said that the change would enable his members to vote and be voted for.

He said: Saturday is the day of our worship and more than five million members of the church will worship in 3,500 branches in the country worship every Saturday including the days of the elections.’’

Udoh said that if the appeal was not considered, members of the church would again be disenfranchised just like in the past.

He said that the church had made presentations at the last National Assembly Committee on Constitution Amendment on the issue.

Udoh said that the church was expecting government to consider its submissions on the issue in future elections.

“We worship on Saturdays, not for personal reasons but Biblical, which are founded in the scriptures and dates back to creation.

“We believe that Sabbath is a Holy Day and should not be used for any personal, civil or public business.

“And that is why we are badly disturbed that the Federal Government that is preaching one man, one vote, wants to conduct elections on Saturdays,’’ the cleric said.

He said that the church had made it mandatory that every member to register during the voter registration, stressing that machineries were already set in motion to achieve the purpose.

“We want to tell the government and INEC that we are ready for business and here are our voters’ cards.

“We are even planning in every part of the country a rally, if we are denied that right again, we are going to do it and already working hard toward it,’’ Udoh said.

The cleric said that the church had also written to INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to reconsider changing the election timetable to enable his members to participate in the exercise.

According to him, the church is already considering the option of going to court if members are eventually disenfranchised this time around.

“We want to go to court to defend our rights. We have been suppressed, marginalised and disenfranchised for so many years and we are saying for how long?

“We are citizens of this country and we should not be disenfranchised, that is what we are saying.

“We have not asked our members not to vote, that will be wrong, but by implication, if election is put on Saturday, it means you have disenfranchised us,’’ Udoh said.

He urged the Federal Government to declare a public holiday for eligible Nigerians to vote and be voted for like it was done in USA and Ghana in their last elections.