No fewer than 4,817 petitioners have asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to desist from holding elections on Saturdays, which, for 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 Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria on the global change website.

The church requested that INEC change the election calendar to any day between Monday and Thursday so as to enable them ‘to exercise their rights to freely participate in the election process.’

This is coming less than 48 hours before the presidential and National Assembly elections, which are set to take place on Saturday saying they have managed to live with these differences, striving for unity as a nation, also as responsible citizens and they are calling on all well-meaning Nigerians to join voices with them the Sabbath keepers to enable the perform their civic duties as well as worship God on the Sabbath and they believe that in the spirit of fairness, this right should not be denied them.