Personally, I love public holidays. They offer me the best opportunity to catch up with school activities. As I have always written to you readers, law permeates the entirety of human endeavours. In Nigeria, the law governing public holidays is the Public Holidays Act.
Today’s analysis centers on whether or not Saturdays and Sundays are holidays within the Act and the effect of legal actions carried out on those days. As held in Etsako West L.G.C. v. Christopher(2014)14 NWLR (Pt. 1426) 73, by virtue of section 15(5) of the Interpretation Act, “holiday” as used in Section 15 of the Act, means a day which is a Sunday or a public holiday. As contained in the schedule, Public holidays in Nigeria are New Year’s Day; Good Friday; Easter Monday; Workers’ Day (1st May); National Day (1st October); Christmas Day; Such day as the Minister may declare to be a public holiday in celebration of the Muslim festival of Id el Fitr, Id el Kabir and celebration of the birthday of the Prophet Muhammed (Id el Maulud).
In addition to days mentioned in the Schedule of this Act, the President may by public notice appoint a special day to be kept as a public holiday either throughout Nigeria or in any part thereof, and any day so appointed shall be kept as a public holiday. Section 2 of the Act. Based on this, Saturday is not a public holiday within the act. In addition, while a public holiday necessarily includes a work-free day, a work-free day like a Saturday is not synonymous with a public holiday unless expressly so declared. Anie v. Uzorka (1993) 8 NWLR (Pt. 309) 1.
While this appears simple, it usually becomes complicated in election tribunals. One of the traits of all laws affecting election petition tribunals is the essentiality of time. The spirit of the laws is that petitions should be given expeditious adjudication to enable the parties to know the status. Abdullahi v. Elayo (1993) 1 NWLR (Pt. 268) 171.
In filling election petitions or appeals, the date of the event is excluded from the computation of time, and the last day being a dias non-juridicus cannot also be taken into reckoning in the computation of time. The principle of the exclusion of the day of the happening of an event has become a principle of general acceptance. Where a statutory period runs from a named date to another, or the statute prescribes some period of days or weeks or months or years within which some act has to be done, although the computation of the period must in every case depend on the intention of parliament as gathered from the statute, generally, the first day of the period will be excluded from the reckoning, and consequently the last day will be included.
However, where the last day within which to do the act is a Sunday which is statutorily declared to be a public holiday by virtue of section 15(5) of the Interpretation Act, the period for the doing of the act shall extend till the next day in view of the provision of section 15(2)(b) and of the Interpretation Act.
In Yakubu v. F.R.N. (2023) 1 NWLR (Pt. 1864) 9, judgment was delivered by the trial court on the 28th January 2013, time for filing a notice of appeal began to run from the 29th January 2013 up until the prescribed 90th day, which was the 28th April 2013. However, since the 28th of April, 2013 was a Sunday, a statutory public holiday, the notice of appeal filed by the respondent to challenge the decision of the trial court, on the 29th of April 2013, being the 91st day after the judgment was delivered, was valid. In Shugaba v. U.B.N. Plc (1997) 4 NWLR (Pt. 500) 481, the Court of appeal held that the ruling of the court below was not invalidated by reason of the fact that it was delivered on a Saturday.
Furthermore, it is pertinent to state that High Court Civil Procedure rules can depart from this general rule and make Saturday a public holiday. This is because the computation of time in election petitions is a matter of court practice and each court has its way of doing things. Hence, in Ikpala Est. Hotels Ltd. v. N.E.P.A. (2004) 11 NWLR (Pt. 884) 249, the Court held that since the statute that regulates the practice and procedure of the High Court of Cross River State, that is, the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules contemplates Saturday as a public holiday or a work-free day, Section 15(5) of the Interpretation Act and Section 1 of the Public Holidays Act would not be applicable to the facts and circumstances of the case.
On the propriety of hearing a case on a public holiday, the court in Okubre v. Ibanga (1990) 6 NWLR (Pt. 154) 1 held that “a public holiday in this country is like a Sunday, dies non jurisdicus, and no legal proceedings can be held on such a day. Dies non juridicum is the full Latin phrase literally meaning “Day without judiciary.” The expression dies non (juridicus) was used for defining a day which is not a (court) day or a day on which no legal business is carried on.”
In conclusion, unless expressly forbidden by Rules of Courts, the general principle of law is that Saturday as a day of the week does not qualify as a public holiday. Therefore, in computing the time within which to file an election petition, Saturday will not be reckoned as a public holiday. Kaugama v. N.E.C. (1993) 3 NWLR (Pt. 284) 681; Balogun v. Odumosu (1999) 2 NWLR (Pt. 592) 590; A.-G., Ondo State v. A.-G., Ekiti State(2001) 17 NWLR (Pt. 732) 706.
Thank you for reading. See you next week.
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