A member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Mr Bitrus Nabasu, says the culture of fixing elections on Saturdays has disenfranchised many members of the church.
Nabasu said this on Saturday after voting at his polling unit in the ongoing bye-election for Pengana Constituency of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau.
Nabasu, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, was reacting to the voter apathy that characterised the Saturday polls in the area.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that there was low turnout of voters, as many of the residents of constituency, predominantly Adventists, shunned the polls to attend their usual church service.
According to the permanent secretary, conducting elections on Saturdays has disenfranchised over 3 million Sabbatarians and many other Nigerians who worship on Saturdays.
“In this area, we are mostly Adventists and we worship on Saturdays according to the Holy Scripture.
“We have been advocating that government should hold elections on working days, so as to enable our people perform their civic responsibility.
“We have over three million registered sabbatarians in this country, and denying them opportunity to vote during election is unfortunate.
“So, we want to call on government to put these category of people into consideration when fixing dates for elections, ” he said.
The permanent secretary however, commended INEC for the credible, free, fair and peaceful conduct of the polls, and urged it to sustain the tempo for future elections in the country.
“This election appears to be very different from others conducted in the past.
“The organisation is very fantastic and if INEC will sustain the tempo, future elections in this country will be perfect, ” he said.
